subject: Lumbar Back Surgery and Back Pain Specialist Services [print this page] Lumbar Back Surgery and Back Pain Specialist Services
Nowadays, a lot of people suffer from lower back pain most specifically the lumbar area. The lumbar area can be found below the thoracic region and just above the sacral region of the spinal column. This pain phenomenon results from varying causes ranging from overuse and some of the times under use of the spinal bone most commonly referred to by many as the "back bone." Although most back pains can be remedied by over-the-counter medicines such as acetaminophen and NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti inflammatory drugs), it is when this pain becomes chronic that a much different approach is needed to alleviate any suffering.
Technically speaking, medical textbooks would say that a pain lasting more than six months is already categorized as chronic pain. However, this is not saying that any pain lasting less than six months is not chronic because pain is a relative thing that can only be correctly measured by the person suffering it. The time period was created to gauge and make categorizing pain simpler. Of course, many other factors are still necessary to be able to correctly diagnose any symptoms associated with any kind of disease, in this case back pain.
A person suffering from lower back pain most likely will go to their family physicians for consultation first. And most often than not, after requesting that the patient undergo several diagnostic tests, a treatment program will be suggested to manage such pain. However, not all general practitioners understand the intricacies of pain management, thus a patient should be made aware that back pain specialist services are available.
Back pain specialist services can be received from a range of several doctors specializing in pain in the lumbar region. In most cases, lumbar back surgery is suggested as a means to counter the pain that has become chronic and can no longer be managed through the simpler means like over-the-counter medicine intake and alternate treatment therapies. In other words, when all other remedies fail a lumbar back surgery becomes the only option. Several surgeries targeting lumbar pain exists at present. And right now these surgeries have become more technologically advanced that in some cases a patient can go home a day or two after the procedure. Of course, these are for procedures that only a small puncture is done and only local anesthesia has been used. The most common surgeries that are being done are laminectomy, discectomy, foraminotomy among others.
Patients suffering from chronic lower back pain, more often than not, obtain back pain specialist services. And when all other pain remedies fail, lumbar back surgery is done to treat such pain.
