Back Pain

Conditions like herniated discs, arthritis, and other back problems can affect your mobility and be distressingly painful. If you have back pain, visit Stepan Kasimian, MD, and his colleagues at HAAS Spine & Orthopaedics. The practice has convenient offices in Glendale, Santa Ana, and Upland, California, offering expert back pain diagnosis and treatment. Call HAAS Spine & Orthopaedics today or book an appointment online to find an effective solution to back pain.

What causes back pain?

Back pain is often caused by damage to the muscles, ligaments, discs, and nerves that make up your spine. Lifting or twisting awkwardly, sports injuries, and trauma caused by falls and auto accidents can stretch or tear these tissues and affect how your vertebrae (bones) align.

Chronic (long-term) conditions that often cause back pain include:

• Spinal stenosis (narrowed spinal canal)
• Degenerative disc disease
• Osteoarthritis
• Sciatica (pinched lower back nerve)
• Spondylolisthesis (vertebra slipping forward)
• Herniated or bulging discs

The discs in your spine separate and support the bones. If a disc’s outer shell weakens (usually from degenerative disc disease), the soft core inside can squeeze through into the spinal canal. Trauma can also cause herniated discs.

Nerve compression resulting from back problems can cause additional symptoms like tingling, prickling, numbness, and weakness. These symptoms often affect the buttocks or hips and one or both legs.

How is back pain treated?

Self-care often fixes back pain. Rest, gentle movement, applying ice or heat, and anti-inflammatory medication can relieve mild back pain within a few days.

Physical therapy might benefit moderate to severe back pain or conditions that don’t improve with self-care. Epidural steroid injections, nerve blocks, and facet joint injections can also help with ongoing back pain.

These injections contain powerful anti-inflammatory medications, a local anesthetic, or often both. Steroid injections can reduce many patients’ back pain for several months.

Would I need surgery for back pain?

HAAS Spine & Orthopaedics doctors achieve excellent results with conservative treatments, but they don’t work for everyone. If you have a severe spinal condition or one that doesn’t respond to other treatments, you might benefit from surgery.

The HAAS Spine & Orthopaedics surgeons specialize in minimally invasive spine surgery (MISS) for back pain. MISS offers patients considerable benefits, including less pain after surgery and a faster recovery.

Back pain surgeries include:

Herniated disc removal

Herniated disc removal can be total (discectomy) or partial (microdiscectomy).

Spinal decompression

Decompression increases the space in your spinal canal when you have spinal stenosis. It involves removing bone and tissue that’s making the spinal canal too narrow.

Spinal fusion

Spinal fusion helps stabilize your spine after discectomy and decompression. Your surgeon uses a bone graft to link the vertebra above and below the surgery site. Over time, the bones fuse to create a stronger connection.

Artificial disc replacement

Implanting an artificial disc is an alternative to fusion for suitable patients. It offers greater spinal flexibility after surgery than does spinal fusion.

Call HAAS Spine & Orthopaedics today or book an appointment online to benefit from the most effective back pain treatments.