Your spine is an intricate collection of vertebrae, soft tissues, joints, discs, and nerves. All these essential components work together to help your body move and support your neck and head. Given its significance to your overall well-being, your spine needs professional care and attention when things go wrong.
An orthopedic spine specialist spends years of medical school studying the spinal cord, common injuries, and various treatment solutions. So, whether you’re dealing with minor back pain or a severe injury, it’s crucial to consult a spine doctor.
We can’t underestimate the importance of orthopedic spine specialists for spine and overall health. Keep reading to learn more about what these doctors can do for you and when you need to schedule an appointment.
The Role of a Spine Surgeon: Non-Surgical and Surgical Options
The goal of any spine surgeon is to provide the best orthopedic spine care possible. These doctors have an incredible knowledge of the body’s musculoskeletal system, so they understand the various conditions that could affect spinal cords and how to address them.
Knowing When To Consult a Spine Surgeon
Some issues require little more than over-the-counter painkillers and some much-needed rest. So, when should you contact an orthopedic spine specialist?
If any of the following sound familiar, you could benefit from a spine surgeon consultation:
- You’re experiencing bower and bladder issues: Irritable Bowel Syndrome can cause problems like abnormal stool or abdominal cramps. It can also cause issues for your lower back.
- You’re experiencing chronic pain: Chronic pain is debilitating and lasts for longer than 12 weeks.
- You have a fever with severe lumbar discomfort: Some illnesses, like the flu, can make your whole body ache. However, severe back pain with a fever could indicate something serious, like a bacterial infection or even cancer.
- You have feet or leg pain with back pain: Pain, numbness, or tingling in your legs, back, and feet could point to a herniated disc or cervical radiculopathy.
When Pain Does Not Go Away
Sometimes, back pain sticks around even after you receive treatment for the underlying cause. When the pain doesn’t go away, it’s more important than ever to consult a spine specialist.
Spine specialists tend to put back pain into three categories:
- Acute
- Subacute
- Chronic
Acute back pain is temporary and often doesn’t last more than a few days. In cases of acute back pain, you typically don’t need more than some rest.
Subacute pain is when the pain lasts for more than four weeks but less than 12. Conditions and injuries that cause subacute back pain don’t always require professional intervention, but it’s still a good idea to schedule an appointment with a spine doctor to identify the cause of your pain and establish a treatment plan.
Chronic back pain lasts over 12 weeks, often making it difficult to complete basic tasks. A spine diagnosis from an experienced orthopedic spine specialist is the best way to figure out why you’re experiencing chronic back pain and what you can do to find relief.
Non-Surgical Interventions
Before putting you under the knife, a spine specialist will suggest various other non-surgical procedures to address your pain and its underlying cause. Some non-surgical treatments your spine specialist may recommend include:
- Physical therapy: Physical therapists can help you find relief from pain via exercise, stretches, and various other holistic methods.
- Medication: Spine surgeons often prescribe medications to help alleviate back pain. They may suggest taking medications while undergoing physical therapy or other treatment options for a more well-rounded solution.
- Injections: Spine doctors can offer trigger point or facet joint injections for more targeted pain relief.
Since your spine specialist wants to do everything possible to improve your spine health, they may also recommend lifestyle changes. For instance, having a healthier diet and exercising can strengthen your body and help alleviate pain in your back.
Surgical Options
Unfortunately, some spinal cord problems require surgical intervention. Spine surgeons suggest this as a last resort option because surgery of any kind can be a stressful experience with a lengthy recovery time. On the bright side, modern medicine has given orthopedic spine specialists ways to minimize recovery times and improve operation accuracy.
Spine surgeons will often recommend surgery if other treatment options haven’t worked or for serious problems like herniated discs. Your spine has several gel-like discs that sit in between each vertebrae. If these discs rupture and lose their fluid, it can cause the spinal vertebrae to rub against each other, often leading to severe back pain.
Spine surgeons can perform a discectomy for herniated discs, during which they remove the damaged part of the disc. Your surgical options will vary depending on your condition or injury.
Severity of the Condition
The importance of orthopedic spine specialists for spine health becomes even more evident with serious spinal cord problems. Spine specialists can treat an impressive range of conditions and injuries.
Neurological Impairments
You may not initially think to see a spine specialist when dealing with neurological impairments, but these doctors can help treat various neurological issues. Spine surgeons know how the spine connects to the brain and how the nerves that travel in between interact.
For instance, spinal cord injuries are among the most severe types of injuries as they can impact brain function. If you’re involved in a car accident and end up seriously injuring your spinal cord, you could suffer from impaired movements and other neurological impairments. A spine specialist can examine your injury and curate a treatment plan that addresses these impairments and your specific spinal cord injuries.
Structural Abnormalities
Some spine issues are simply abnormalities rather than traumatic injuries. A common structural abnormality that spine specialists can treat is scoliosis, a relatively common condition that causes an awkward spine curvature.
Minor cases of scoliosis benefit from non-invasive treatments like physical therapy and bracing. However, if these don’t correctly align the spine or the curvature is severe, a spine doctor may suggest spinal fusion. During a spinal fusion operation, the spine surgeon uses a bone-like material with rods, wires, hooks, or screws to realign the spine securely.
Trauma-Induced Injuries
Trauma from car accidents, athletics, and other activities can create serious spine injuries. For example, one of the more severe trauma-induced injuries is whiplash, which can cause distressing damage to your back and head. A spine specialist can examine your whiplash injuries and curate a treatment plan to help alleviate the resulting pain and other symptoms.
An orthopedic spine specialist can also treat minor injuries like strains and sprains. Regardless of the severity, any injury you experience to your back necessitates visiting your doctor.
Unresponsive To Conservative Treatments
A spine surgeon could be your saving grace if you’ve tried other conservative treatment methods for back pain or discomfort to no avail. For example, if you’ve been dealing with chronic back pain and have tried over-the-counter painkillers and stretches but have yet to find relief, a spine specialist can take a closer look at your situation, provide an accurate diagnosis, and recommend other treatment methods, whether they be pain management techniques, medications, or other possible solutions.
Degenerative Spinal Conditions
Degenerative spinal conditions can seemingly come out of nowhere but require immediate professional attention. Spine specialists often help patients dealing with:
- Disc degeneration
- Spinal stenosis
- Osteoarthritis
- Herniated disc
The key to treating any of these conditions is identifying them first. Since spine surgeons have spent years studying the spine and nervous system, they can provide a more accurate diagnosis, help you better understand your condition, and help you explore treatment options.
Making the Decision: Consultation and Evaluation
Before a spine specialist can curate a treatment plan, they need to get to know you and your health concerns. During the initial consultation, your spine doctor will ask about your medical history, listen to your concerns, and provide a comprehensive evaluation. This evaluation aims to determine where your pain might be coming from and how severe it is.
Orthopedic spine specialists often use advanced equipment like X-ray machines, MRI scans, and CT scans to examine the inner workings of the body. These detailed images can provide a clearer picture of the vertebrae, muscles, and tendons, helping your doctor make a more accurate diagnosis.
Contact the Spine and Orthopedic Specialists of Elmhurst To Explore Your Treatment Options
Understanding the importance of orthopedic spine specialists for your spine health can help you determine when to see one. At Orthopedic Specialists, S.C., our orthopedic spine specialists use state-of-the-art technology and compassionate care to help patients address their spinal pain and conditions.
Whether you’ve been dealing with chronic pain or recently experienced a serious back injury, our team at Orthopedic Specialists, S.C. wants to help. Call (630) 782-9600 to schedule a consultation in Elmhurst, Illinois. Get help today.
