LOW BACK PAIN (LBP) is a pandemic disease having 80% of lifetime prevalence, affecting 15-20% population at any point of time, being one of the commonest reason for visit to a doctor & young age morbidity/disability/work absenteeism.
Some of the main causes of back pain include facet arthropathy, sciatica, muscle strain, sacroilitis, bulging or herniated discs and degenerative disc disease. Prolapsed intervertebral discs (PIVD) are the most common cause of low back pain associated with a defined structural Abnormality.
While spinal arthritis is the common reason of young age back pain at prime of their carriers including some bollywood celebrities, disc diseases including slip disc is prevalent in all age groups, in young age due to trauma & in old age due to degeneration.
Patients who are not helped by weeks of conservative therapy are often referred for surgery on the premise that further non-operative care is unlikely to help. Ideally, a patient with low back pain that has persisted beyond a four-week period should be referred to a multidisciplinary pain centre. With interventional pain management patients are getting back to life. It has both diagnostic and treatment values, as sometimes all investigations put together do not give the exact diagnosis.
ONCE THE CONSERVATIVE TREATMENT FAILS:-
Early aggressive treatment plan of pain has to be implemented to prevent peripherally induced CNS changes that may intensify or prolong pain making it a complex pain syndrome. Only 5% of total LBP patients would need surgery & 20% of discal rupture or herniation would need surgery. Nonoperative treatment is sufficient in most of the patients, although patient selection is important even then.
Depending upon the diagnosis one can perform & combine properly selected percutaneous fluoroscopic guided procedures with time spacing depending upon pt`s pathology & response to treatment.
Using precision diagnostic & therapeutic blocks in chronic LBP , isolated facet joint pain in 40%, discogenic pain in 25%(95% in L4-5&L5S1) ,segmental dural or nerve root pain in 14% & sacroiliac joint pain in 15% of the patients. This article describes successful interventions of these common causes of LBP after conservative treatment has failed.
Different Non Surgical Interventions Employed Successfully:
Epidural Steroid Inj.
Nerve root sleeve/ transforaminal Inj.
Epidurogram & Epidurolysis.
Nucleoplasty- Laser, Drill, RF decompression
Ozone Discolysis
Facet Joint Block & RF Denervation
SI Joint Block
Newer technologies like ozone injection cures most of the patients of slip disc & sciatica, as ozone’s nascent oxygen atom shrinks the disc so taking away pressure from pain sensitive nerves. It is a non surgical, outpatient procedure done under local anesthesia not requiring bed rest for more than day or two & prolonged absence from work realizing the importance of time, at much lower cost with almost no complications. This procedure is done under radiological guidance for precise needle targeting and best results. There after patient is given advice for spine care & healthy habits. This technology is latest & many people including medical caregivers don’t know about it. It has benefited millions in developed world and is now available in India also.

Spine

Back Pain

Spine Anatomy

Dics Diseases