Do you have concerns when it comes to your spine?
Would you like to know about a few steps you can take to help prevent injury to it?
If injury does occur, would you like to know some steps you can take to repair the damage and/or ease the pain?
When working to avoid spinal problems, there are simple steps you can take, such as exercise. When the problems cannot be avoided, physical therapy, chiropractors, and injections are some solutions for fixing them or making them feel better.

We all know lifting heavy objects improperly can cause issues to our backs, but there are other simple ways to protect your spine from injury as well. You can start with low impact exercises, such as walking and swimming. Your shoes play an important role in preventing problems, the better the support your shoe has the better it is for your back.

While you are exercising, be sure to strengthen your core. Strengthening your core will help support and take pressure off your lower spine. Even though exercise is important, so is making sure you get plenty of rest with the right amount of sleep and the proper pillow and mattress.

Practicing good ergonomics and not sitting for long periods of time will help keep the pressure of the lower back. The lower spine is put under more pressure when you are sitting than when you are standing. When sitting, make sure you have good posture, don’t slouch or lean forward, choose the right office chair, and do not sit any more than 20-30 minutes at a time. If all else fails or you get into a tragic accident, there are some steps you can take to correct or ease the pain.

The spinal problems that occur because of age, such as bone spurs or osteoporosis, are virtually unavoidable, but you can prolong them with exercise and strengthening your core. When other spinal problems do occur, it may be upsetting, but do not worry, there are steps you can do to either ease the pain or get rid of the problem altogether depending on which problem has happened to you.

If you have Facet Syndrome, it can cause pain at the base of your skull, upper back and shoulders, mid-back, or neck. The syndrome can also restrict motion. To help correct this, you can try conservative treatments, such as with physical therapist, osteopathic clinicians, and chiropractors. These treatments are good at helping to restore restricted and painful facet joints to reestablish normal motion and are usually combined with anti-inflammatory medications and/or muscle relaxers.

When the conservative treatments fail to work, the doctors may choose to use facet joint injections or medial blocks. These can help reduce the pain caused by the facet joints. A fluoroscopic X-ray guidance is used to perform these procedures safely.

Bursitis is caused by overuse or trauma. Tenderness when pressing around joints and aching and stiffness during joint movement are a couple of the symptoms. Treating bursitis can be as simple as just changing your lifestyle, resting the affected joint, and avoiding the activities that worsen the symptoms. You can take non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as naproxen or ibuprofen to control any inflammation and pain. It may be necessary to inject a corticosteroid into the joint if the NSAIDs do not relieve the inflammation.

A herniated disc is caused when too much pressure is put on a healthy intervertebral disc. With a herniated disc comes a wide array of pain that comes from increased pressure and an irritation of the nerves. Treating a herniated disc will depend on how severe it was injured and nerve damage. Most will improve in six weeks to three months from when the injury happened. Medication management to help control pain and inflammation and physical therapy to assist and help with improving mobility and strength can be enough to let your body heal.

For the few where therapy and medications do not help with lessening the pain of a herniated disc, they can turn to surgery. Surgeons at the Virginia Spine Institute have done surgeries to correct a herniated disc to professional athletes and allowed them to return to their sport.

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Your back is the structure of your body that holds everything together and in alignment. Taking care of your spine through exercise and resting properly are a couple of steps to help prevent spinal injury. If an injury to your spine does happen to occur, it can be cared for with steps taken from physical therapy to surgery depending on the severity.

Have you or a loved one suffered from spinal problems?
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