The two most common causes of chronic low back pain are Facet joint injury or osteoarthritis Sacroiliac joint dysfunction or osteoarthritis. The facet joints are small joints in the spine which is where motion in the spine occurs. The discs are cushions in the front of the spine that do not move and are infrequent sources of pain. The facet joints are located on each side of the spine and occur in pairs at each level from C1-2 in the upper neck to L5S1 in the lower back. A...

The first step in relieving low back pain is determining the source of the pain. There are many structures in the back that can be the source of the pain. Determining where the pain is coming from requires a number of steps. The first step is taking a detailed history of the patient’s pain symptoms. Is the pain localized to a particular site in the back? Is it on one side or both sides? Is it there all of the time or is it intermittent? Are there particular positions or activities...

Pain and restricted movement of the shoulder is a common form of disability. It can be due to arthritis in the shoulder joint or can be due to damage or degeneration of the tendons and ligaments that support the shoulder.

Do you have back pain? Does back pain interfere with your ability to work, play, travel or enjoy your retirement? Have you been told that there is nothing that can be done about it and that you need to learn to live with it? I am here to tell you what the common causes of back pain are and what you can do to improve or eliminate it so that you can return to a better quality of life.

Claustrophobia is the fear of being enclosed in a small space or room and unable to escape or get out.

Whiplash is a descriptive term for the type of motion experienced by a person’s head and neck following a rear-end collision.

Sciatic is often very severe pain. Women often say that it is worse than childbirth and worse than kidney stones. The pain usually comes on suddenly which is when the disc herniation occurs. Some people report having back pain for hours or days prior to the onset of the leg pain, which is probably when the tear in the annulus of the disc occurs.

As we age there are degenerative changes that occur in the spine that combine to result in narrowing of the spinal canal. This can result in pressure on the spinal cord or on the nerve roots of the cauda equina. This narrowing is called spinal stenosis.

Disc herniation means that some of the nucleus material that is in the center of the disc has moved out of the disc through a tear or a crack in the outer annulus.

What is it? Why did I get it? What can I do about it? Degenerative disc disease is a bad term because it is really not a disease. It is a fact of life and is mostly a genetic condition.