After learning that you do not have to live with pain as a medical student, Dr. Leslie Delaney in Walnut Creek chose to help patients with chronic pain. Chronic pain can be frustrating and may affect your life adversely if you fail to call your doctor for medical attention. Dr. Delaney offers her patients comprehensive care, creating customized treatment plans to help them return to their active physical life.
Conditions likely to cause you chronic pain include:
Spine fractures
You are likely to suffer from a spinal dislocation or fracture because of a car accident, fall, or gunshot. The dislocation forces bone fragments to damage your spinal nerves, resulting in severe pain. When you apply a greater force on your spine, the application extent might be too much for your vertebrae to support, forcing them to crush. As a result, you may have a compression fracture. If your compression is mild, you will most likely experience minimal deformity and mild pain. However, a severe compression may affect your nerve roots and spinal cord, resulting in a forward hunch deformity (kyphosis) and debilitating pain.
Osteoporosis is another likely cause of spinal fractures. Osteoporosis, tumors, and specific cancer types weaken your bones, making you susceptible to vertebral compression fractures.
What are the surgical procedures you are likely to have with spinal fractures?
Your doctor will most likely recommend a surgical procedure when conservative options fail to alleviate your symptoms. A severe spinal fracture may need procedures like:
· Vertebroplasty. Your surgeon is most likely to suggest the procedure when you have a compression fracture. During the treatment, your care provider inserts a catheter into your affected bones to inject them with bone cement to harden and stabilize your vertebral column.
· Kyphoplasty. The X-ray-guided treatment entails inserting a tiny tube into your vertebral column before inserting an inflatable bone balloon. Your surgeon will then inflate the balloon to help restore your vertebrae into the original position, creating a cavity for your care provider to fill with bone cement. The cement your doctor fills in the space with helps seal cavities and cracks, preventing your bones from re-collapsing.
Sciatica
Sciatica is a lower back pain radiating from your sciatic nerve that branches from your back, moving down your hips and buttocks, tapering towards the back of your legs. You are most likely to experience sciatica when a bone spur, herniated disc, or spinal stenosis compresses parts of the nerve. The condition mainly affects one side of your body and you may feel pain depending on the part of the sciatic nerve that is affected.
Though the pain may be severe and disabling, most sciatica cases resolve with conventional treatments. However, your doctor may recommend a surgical procedure when you have extreme leg weakness or changes in bladder or bowel functions. Besides surgery, your doctor may help eliminate your symptoms through medications, physical therapy, and steroid injections. While physical therapy will enhance your back posture, making you flexible, steroid injections help minimize inflammation around the sciatic nerve.
Debilitating pain is a common symptom when a bone fracture or spinal stenosis compresses a major nerve. Though conventional treatment options may help minimize pain, call your doctor before your symptoms worsen.
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