low back pain

Know Your Low Back Pain Score

Know Your Low Back Pain Score

I’m writing this post to give you a “heads up” on an upcoming blog topic that is critically important to how you choose to solve your low back pain.

Over the next few posts, I will be discussing how “Success” is defined, or measured, when it comes to the varioius types of low back pain care you could receive. If you are not already a subscriber, sign up using the form below to be notified.

The goal of this site is to always provide you with information about low back pain to help you make treatment choices that will fit your situation.

In other words, to help you solve low back pain…the right way…FOR YOU!

Lumbar Facet Pain and Nerve Blocks

Lumbar Facet Pain and Nerve Blocks

KEY POINTS:

Lumbar facet joints can be a cause of your pain.

Facet pain cannot be conclusively diagnosed by standard examination procedures or pain patterns.

Diagnostic nerve blocks are considered the gold standard for confirmation but they also suffer from limitations.

Pain relief from Facet Denervation (Medial Branch Neurotomy), although often significant, is rarely complete or permanent.

The decision on whether or not to consider Medial Branch Neurotomy should be based on understanding the expected outcomes, risks, and limitations of the procedure, in comparison to your current level of function.

Ablating (destroying) the nerve simply eliminates (or reduces) the ability to transmit pain signals. It DOES NOT identify or address the factors causing the pain or sensitization of structures supplied by that nerve

Lyrica, Neurontin, and Topamax for Low Back and Sciatic Pain-Do They Work?

Lyrica, Neurontin, and Topamax for Low Back and Sciatic Pain-Do They Work?

Introduction:

Over the last 5-10 years the use of anticonvulsants (Neurontin) (Lyrica) to treat low back pain and/or sciatica has increased dramatically. This has occurred despite clinical guidelines that recommend non-pharmacologic interventions rather than the use of stronger analgesics such as opioids and anticonvulsants. (1, 2)

Physicians are increasingly prescribing both gabapentin (Neurontin) and pregabalin (Lyrica) for almost any type of pain, according to a perspective published in the New England Journal of Medicine. (3) This is occurring despite the FDA only approving both drugs for postherpetic neuralgia, fibromyalgia and neuropathic pain due to diabetes or spinal cord injury.

The BEST Low Back Pain Treatment??

The BEST Low Back Pain Treatment??

When I was in active practice I was often asked, and now working with clients that I train individually, I continue to be asked, a recurrent question.

“Doctor Fudala… What is the best treatment for low back pain?”

For those of you surfing at warp speed, with the attention span of a hummingbird, and want to get right to the point… here is the answer.

There is no such thing as a “best” treatment. And, if your clinician tells you that a certain treatment has been shown to be clearly better than others, they are “cherry picking” the scientific literature, or giving you their own biased opinion, to support the type of treatment they most likely earn their living providing.

How Useful are MRI's for Low Back Pain?

How Useful are MRI's for Low Back Pain?

This is a brief post about the relationship between MRI findings and low back pain.

It is being written because of similar questions and concerns I have had from several of my low back pain recovery clients over the last few weeks.

One of the most important things you need to know when you are suffering with low back pain is this.

In most cases, there is NO relationship between what is seen on your low back MRI, your current pain, or your risk of experiencing low back pain in the future.

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