Low Back Pain : Treatments

Many people will feel better within one week after the start of back pain. After another 4-6 weeks, the back pain will likely be completely gone. To get better quickly, take the right steps when you first get pain. A common misconception about bac...

A thorough differential diagnosis is important before any treatment is considered. There are times when alternative therapies may be most beneficial, and other times when more invasive treatments are needed.

All forms of treatment of low back pain are aimed either at symptom relief or to prevent interference with the processes of healing. None of these methods appear to speed up healing.

Heat treatments are therapeutic applications of superficial or deep-heating agents to areas of the body.

Heat treatments are applications of therapeutic thermal agents to specific body areas experiencing injury or dysfunction.

Cryotherapy is a technique that uses an extremely cold liquid or instruments to freeze and destroy abnormal or cancerous skin cells that require removal. The technique has been in use since the turn of the century, but modern techniques have made it widely available to dermatologists and primary care doctors. Recent advances have also lead to more use of cryotherapy in treating internal cancer. The technique is also called cryosurgery.

Cryotherapy is a technique that uses an extremely cold liquid or instrument to freeze and destroy abnormal skin cells that require removal. The technique has been in use since the turn of the century, but modern techniques have made it widely available to dermatologists and primary care doctors. The technique is also known as cryocautery or cryosurgery.

Cryotherapy is a technique that uses an extremely cold liquid or instrument to freeze and destroy abnormal skin cells that require removal. The technique has been in use since the turn of the century, but modern techniques have made it widely available to dermatologists and primary care doctors. The technique is also called cryosurgery.

Physical therapists provide services to restore function, improve mobility, relieve pain , and prevent or limit permanent physical disabilities among those suffering from injuries, disabilities, or disease.

Physical therapists teach people recovering from surgery or with injuries, sprains or arthritis how to perform exercises that will help them gain strength and mobility and prevent recurring injury. Here are suggestions to help you get the most from physical therapy.

The professional field consists of skilled health care providers who work under the direction or supervision of a physical therapist or physical therapists. Their role is to facilitate care and treatment of patients with injuries, diseases, or disabilities that involve mobility or other basic physical functioning. Duties include patient instruction and monitoring, reporting progress and problems to the therapist, and providing or assisting in various forms of treatment.

Chest physical therapy is the term for a group of treatments designed to improve respiratory efficiency, promote expansion of the lungs, strengthen respiratory muscles, and eliminate secretions from the respiratory system.

I was in a car accident four weeks ago. I have had physical therapy for the last three weeks and it seems to hurt more than it helps. I am still feeling pain and spasms. Can you suggest another option?

Traction is the use of a pulling force to treat muscle and skeleton disorders.

Lateral traction is a technique in which tension is used to move a body part to the side or away from its original location.

Traction is force applied by weights or other devices to treat bone or muscle disorders or injuries.

Spinal traction is the process of applying force through body weight, weights, and/or pulleys to draw apart the vertebrae of the spine.

A therapeutic approach based on the principle that maladaptive moods and behavior can be changed by replacing distorted or inappropriate ways of thinking with thought patterns that are healthier and more realistic. Cognitive therapy is an approach to psychotherapy that uses thought patterns to change moods and behaviors. Pioneers in the development of cognitive behavior therapy include Albert Ellis (1929-), who developed rational-emotive therapy (RET) in the 1950s, and Aaron Beck (1921—), whose cognitive therapy has been widely used for depression and anxiety. Cognitive behavior therapy has become increasingly popular since the 1970s. Growing numbers of therapists have come to believe that their patients' cognitive processes play an important role in determining the effectiveness of treatment. Currently, almost 70% of the members of the Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy identify themselves as cognitive behaviorists. Like behavior therapy, cognitive behavior therapy tends to be short-term (often between 10 and 20 sessions), and it focuses on the client's present situation in contrast to the emphasis on past history that is a prominent feature of Freudian psychoanalysis and other psychodynamically oriented therapies. The therapeutic process begins with identification of distorted perceptions and thought patterns that are causing or contributing to the client's problems, often through detailed record keeping by the client. Some self-defeating ways of thinking identified by Aaron Beck include all-or-nothing thinking; magnifying or minimizing the importance of an event; overgeneralization (drawing extensive conclusions from a single event); personalization (taking things too personally); selective abstraction (giving disproportionate weight to negative events); arbitrary inference (drawing illogical conclusions from an event); and automatic thoughts (habitual negative, scolding thoughts such as "You can't do anything right"). Once negative ways of thinking have been identified, the therapist helps the client work on replacing them with more adaptive ones. This process involves a repertoire of techniques, including self-evaluation, positive self-talk, control of negative thoughts and feelings, and accurate assessment of both external situations and of the client's own emotional state. Clients practice these techniques alone, with the therapist, and also, wherever possible, in the actual settings in which stressful situations occur (in vivo), gradually building up confidence in their ability to cope with difficult situations successfully by breaking out of dysfunctional patterns of response. Today cognitive behavior therapy is widely used with children and adolescents, especially for disorders involving anxiety, depression, or problems with social skills. Like adult clients, children undergoing cognitive behavior therapy are made aware of distorted perceptions and errors in logic that are responsible for inaccurate or unrealistic views of the world around them. The therapist then works to change erroneous beliefs and perceptions by instruction, modeling, and giving the child a chance to rehearse new attitudes and responses and practice them in real-life situations. Cognitive behavior therapy has been effective in treating a variety of complaints, ranging from minor problems and developmental difficulties to severe disorders that are incurable but can be made somewhat more manageable. It is used either alone or together with other therapies and/or medication as part of an overall treatment plan. Cognitive behavioral therapy has worked especially well, often in combination with medication, for children and adolescents suffering from depression. It can help free depressed children from the pervasive feelings of helplessness and hopelessness that are supported by selfdefeating beliefs. Children in treatment are assigned to monitor their thoughts, and the therapist points out ways that these thoughts (such as "noth

Cognitive-behavioral therapy is an action-oriented form of psychosocial therapy that assumes that maladaptive, or faulty, thinking patterns cause maladaptive behavior and "negative" emotions. (Maladaptive behavior is behavior that is counter-productive or interferes with everyday living.) The treatment focuses on changing an individual's thoughts (cognitive patterns) in order to change his or her behavior and emotional state.

Cognitive therapy is a psychosocial (both psychological and social) therapy that assumes that faulty thought patterns (called cognitive patterns) cause maladaptive behavior and emotional responses. The treatment focuses on changing thoughts in order to solve psychological and personality problems. Behavior therapy is also a goal-oriented, therapeutic approach, and it treats emotional and behavioral disorders as maladaptive learned responses that can be replaced by healthier ones with appropriate training. Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) integrates features of behavior modification into the traditional cognitive restructuring approach.

Behavioral therapy can help ease panic disorder, whether in conjunction with medication or alone.

What's the difference between a can-do and a won't-try person? It's usually a matter of bravery.

Electrical nerve stimulation, also called transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), is a noninvasive, drug-free pain management technique. By sending electrical signals to underlying nerves, the battery-powered TENS device can relieve a wide range of chronic and acute pain .

Electrotherapy is the use of electrical stimulation for therapeutic purposes. Specifically, electrotherapy uses energy waves that are part of the electromagnetic spectrum to produce desired physiological and chemical effects in the body.

Electrical stimulation of the brain (ESB) is a relatively new technique used to treat chronic pain and tremors associated with Parkinson disease . ESB is administered by passing an electrical current through an electrode implanted in the brain.

How Electrothermal Catheter Therapy WorksLow back and leg pain is often due to damage to one or more of the disks between the vertebrae. Electrothermal therapy uses heat to change the structure of the tissue inside the disk.

Good warm-ups and cool-downs can keep you from getting hurt when you do more intense aerobic activities that last 30 minutes or longer.

An adolescent athlete can never stretch too much, experts say. Stretching to stay flexible is vital -- particularly when a child reaches puberty and goes through a growth spurt.

Spinal fusion is a procedure that promotes the fusing, or growing together, of two or more vertebrae in the spine.

Spinal fusion is surgery to fuse spine bones (vertebrae) that cause you to have back problems. Fusing means two bones are permanently placed together so there is no longer movement between them. Spinal fusion is usually done along with other surgical procedures of the spine.

Spinal Fusion: Understanding Bone GraftTo fuse the spine, very small pieces of extra bone are needed. Calledbone graft,this bone acts as the "cement" that fuses the vertebrae together.

LaminectomyWhen to Call Your DoctorOnce at home, call your doctor if you have any of the symptoms below:Unusual redness, heat, or drainage at the incision siteIncreasing pain, numbness, or weakness in your legFever over101.0°FVertebrae are the bon...

A laminectomy is a surgical procedure in which the surgeon removes a portion of the bony arch, or lamina, on the dorsal surface of a vertebra, which is one of the bones that make up the human spinal column. It is done to relieve back pain that has not been helped by more conservative treatments. In most cases a laminectomy is an elective procedure rather than emergency surgery . A laminectomy for relief of pain in the lower back is called a lumbar laminectomy or an open decompression.

Laminectomy is a surgical procedure that entails opening the spinal column to treat nerve compression in the spinal cord.

During Cervical Disk SurgeryDuring surgery, your surgeon may remove all or part of the disk(diskectomy).To reach the cervical spine, he or she may make an incision in the front(anterior)or the back(posterior)of your neck. With the anterior approac...

Disk removal is one of the most common types of back surgery. Diskectomy (also called discectomy) is the removal of an intervertebral disk, the flexible plate that connects any two adjacent vertebrae in the spine. Intervertebral disks act as shock absorbers, protecting the brain and spinal cord from the impact produced by the body's movements.

Types of Lumbar Disk SurgeryYour disk problem may be corrected by adiskectomy,the surgical removal of a portion of a disk. Your surgeon may recommend a"classic" diskectomy,amicrodiskectomy,or apercutaneous diskectomy.The basic differences among th...

One of the most common types of back surgery is disk removal (diskectomy), the removal of an intervertebral disk, the flexible plate that connects any two adjacent vertebrae in the spine. Intervertebral disks act as shock absorbers, protecting the brain and spinal cord from the impact produced by the body's movements.

LaminotomyWhen to Call Your DoctorOnce at home, call your doctor if you have any of the symptoms below:Unusual redness, heat, or drainage at the incision siteIncreasing pain, numbness, or weakness in your legFever over101.0°FLaminotomy is a surger...

MicrodiskectomyWhen to Call Your DoctorOnce at home, call your doctor if you have any of the symptoms below:Unusual redness, heat, or drainage at the incision siteIncreasing pain, numbness, or weakness in your legFever over101.0°FDuring amicrodisk...

Diskectomy is surgery to remove all or part of a cushion that helps protect your spinal column. These cushions, called disks, separate your spinal bones (vertebrae. When one of your disks herniates (moves out of place), the soft gel inside pushes through the wall of the disk. The disk may then place pressure on the spinal cord and nerves that are coming out of your spinal column.

What Is Lumbar Microsurgery?Lumbar microsurgeryis a way of doing low-back surgery through a small incision.