The lower back consists of muscles, tissue, nerves, and the lumbar spine – the five vertebrae or back bones that sit above your tailbone.
Specialists at the Pain Management Center at Cooper understand that lower back pain can be a complex, chronic, and debilitating problem. It’s a condition that requires a careful, thorough approach, not a one-size-fits-all solution. We create personalized treatment plans to alleviate your symptoms and help you get back to enjoying your favorite activities.
Why Choose the Pain Management Center at Cooper for Low Back Pain?
Our team of pain specialists creates a multi-pronged approach to treating your low back pain. By including doctors from several different disciplines, we are able to examine your condition from multiple viewpoints to find the best possible solution.
Together, we develop a comprehensive plan to treat the underlying causes of your pain, relieving your symptoms.
Causes of Low Back Pain
Causes of low back pain can vary. Some of the conditions we regularly see include:
- Degenerative disc disease or arthritis: Wear and tear can occur on the discs that provide cushioning between the vertebrae in your lower back.
- Herniated disc: Rupture of the discs that provide cushioning between your vertebrae can contribute to back pain.
- Lumbar radiculopathy: The compression of a nerve root in the spinal column can cause pain in the lower back.
- Sacroiliac joint pain: Dysfunction or inflammation of the sacroiliac joint, which is between the bottom of the spine and the pelvis, can cause pain in the lower back, hip, pelvis, and legs.
- Spinal stenosis: The spaces within the spine can narrow and place pressure on the spinal cord and other nerves.
- Spondylolisthesis: A stress fracture can cause a disc in the lower back to shift out of place.
- Spondylosis: A small stress fracture in the discs of the spine can cause low back pain.
- Strains and sprains: Overusing and overstretching muscles in the lower back can contribute to pain.
Treatment for Low Back Pain
Some of the many treatments that may be part of your overall care plan include:
- Pain Injections: Our specialists may use injections of steroids, with or without a small amount of anesthetic, to manage pain in the lower back.
- Nerve blocks: For a nerve block, our specialists inject a local anesthetic with a medication that reduces inflammation and temporarily numbs the nerve in the lower back that is causing pain. When the medication wears off, the nerve no longer sends pain signals to the brain.
- Radiofrequency ablation: This procedure involves inserting probes through the skin that apply heat to nerves in the lower back. This heat destroys the nerves we target so they no longer send pain messages to your brain.
- Spinal cord stimulation: We may use this procedure to relieve chronic low back pain. A doctor surgically places a small electrical device, or electrode, to stimulate the area of the spinal cord associated with your back pain. This electrode, which is powered by a small device that we also implant under the skin, delivers electrical pulses that feel like mild tingling. This tingling replaces the sensation of lower back pain.
- Physical therapy: Exercises to strengthen and improve range of motion in the low back can help to relieve pain.
- Surgery: Our doctors may recommend spinal fusion for low back pain. Our pain management specialists collaborate with our surgeons to ensure a quick recovery and reduced pain.
Our pain management specialists may also recommend therapies such as counseling, massage, and acupuncture as part of your overall treatment plan. Read more about our pain management treatments.
Contact Us
To learn more about the Pain Management Center at Cooper or to schedule an appointment, please call 856.963.6770.
Refer a Patient
Referring physicians are welcome to call us any time at 856.963.6770 with questions or concerns about a shared patient or to refer a patient to our care. Learn more about pain management referrals.