Non-Invasive Therapies For Back Pain

Back pain is a common occurrence for many. The cause can range from muscle strain injury, herniation and degenerative disc disease to spondylolisthesis and osteoarthritis. Most back pain is cured through natural means within a two week to three month period. If the pain is due to muscle strain, as most back pain is, then the only way to heal is to wait for blood to carry nutrients and healing properties to the muscles. Fortunately, the muscles have an exceptional blood supply and are usually self-healing. It is estimated that around 50 percent of those with back pain will get natural relief within a couple weeks and nearly 90 percent will find relief within a three month time period.

If pain does not subside within a reasonable amount of time, pain medication or surgery can be an option. Unfortunately, pain medication can be highly addictive and surgery does not always remedy the problem. Surgery usually has long recovery times also, which requires patients to take off work and forgo daily activities.

Since back pain is such a common issue for many Americans, there have been quite a few new therapies popping up to address these issues. Less addictive pain medications and minimally invasive procedures, such as Vertebroplasty and Kyphoplasty, have recently been introduced to the market, allowing those with severe back pain to get relief without huge surgical procedures.

Vertebroplasty is minimally invasive and helps to strengthen fractured bones or vertebrae in the spinal column that could be causing back pain. Vertebrates can be fractured due to osteoporosis, weakness caused by cancer or a host of other causes. To strengthen the bones or vertebrae, doctors inject the fractured bone with a cement-type mixtures that makes it stronger. They use image guidance to ensure precision, safety and limited surgical exposure, then they use a trocar (hollow needle) to go through the skin into the vertebral bone.

Kyphoplasty adds an extra step to vertebroplasty, by inserting and inflating a balloon in the patient’s vertebrae, before injecting the vertebrae with bone cement. Again, it is minimally invasive and works well for painful, progressive vertebral compression fractures, while also protecting from further fractures.

Both procedures only involve a tiny needle hole on the order of a few millimeters for the process to be accomplished and therefore allow a much shortened recovery time after treatment.



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