Upper Back Pain Treatment – Surgery Alternatives
Different upper back pain treatment options include medications, physical therapy, and surgery. In today’s article, we will focus on surgery alternative for back pain. In general, you should not worry about upper back pain because it can go away within a few days. However, if the problem persists for a long time, it can become painful, uncomfortable, and inconvenient. Read on!
Upper Back Pain Treatment
Before we will you why minimally invasive surgery is the best treatment option for upper back pain, let us focus on surgery alternative for back pain.
Home Remedies
You can relieve upper back pain with gentle stretches, over-the-counter medications like naproxen, ibuprofen, and acetaminophen. You can also use ice to reduce inflammation and swelling. Some people say that heat can ease stiffness and improve mobility.
Posture Exercises
A good posture is characterized by correct spinal structure alignment. Posture exercise can reduce back strains and alleviate pain. Some posture exercises that can help relieve upper back pain are chin tuck, shoulder blade squeeze, and upper backstretch.
Prescription Medications
Another surgery alternative for back pain is prescription drugs. These are muscle relaxants or anti-inflammatory medications used to treat upper back pain. If the pain is due to depression or stress, your doctor will prescribe your anti-depressant drugs as an upper back pain treatment for a few months.
Health professionals likewise prescribe opioid pain killers for severe pain. However, health professionals at MINT do not recommend these drugs for longer periods. You can also take anticonvulsant medicines to relieve pain caused by nerve damage.
Steroid Injections
Your doctor may give you intravenous steroidal injections to treat upper back pain. It is another surgery alternative for back pain that can relieve your pain temporarily. Most healthcare providers do not recommend steroidal injections for back pain because they can cause adverse reactions.
Physical Therapy
Physical therapy, along with chiropractic care and acupuncture, is considered effective upper back treatment options. However, you should ask your health provider if it is safe to undergo physical therapy or any other hands-on healing treatment.
Most cases of upper back pain usually resolve within one to two weeks without further treatment. You can resume your day-to-day activities gradually. However, if you feel pain or discomfort in your upper back, it is time to consult a qualified surgeon.
Surgery
Although many people are afraid of surgery for their upper back pain, it is the most effective treatment option. Here at MINT, we rarely prescribe surgery for upper back pain. However, when all conservative upper back treatment options fail to provide relief, the patient is advised to undergo surgery as a last resort. If left untreated, upper back pain can worsen and leads to complications like a vertebral fracture, herniated disc, and even deformity.
There are different surgical options used by licensed and skilled MINT surgeons to treat the upper back treatment. Some of the common procedures we perform for thoracic spine injury include:
Spinal Decompression: It is a minimally invasive surgery used to treat spinal stenosis, a condition characterized by narrowing of the spinal canal. Here at MINT, our surgeon will remove the bony walls of vertebrae to reduce painful sensations. Spinal decompression aims to ease pressure on the nerves.
Vertebroplasty: MINT has qualified surgeons who can perform Vertebroplasty or Kyphoplasty to repair compression fractures caused by osteoporosis. The surgery involves injecting a glue-like bone cement material in the upper back.
Microdiscectomy: It is another back pain treatment used to solve problems like bulging discs or pressurized nerves. It is a minimally invasive procedure that requires the surgeon to remove the portion of the disc and insert a bone graft material to fuse the two vertebrae.
Why Minimally Invasive Surgery is the best option?
Minimally invasive surgery is a procedure that involves making a small incision in the back of the patient. The smaller incision leads to less blood loss, less scarring, shorter hospital stays, quick recovery.
Minimally invasive is one of the best upper back pain treatment option because it does not damage the surrounding tissues, muscles, ligaments, and nerves, leading to less or no complications.
The procedure involves the surgeon making a small incision in the back and insert a bone graft material or a device called a tubular retractor. The surgeon then uses a special microscope to view the real-time images of the spine.
The bone graft material fuses the two vertebrae into a single bone over time. The patient is discharged the same day or the next day after the procedure. A few months’ rehabilitation periods are required to recover from the upper back pain. Contact MINT today for Upper Back Pain Treatment.
