Common Spine Conditions

The spine is crucial to stability and movement, but defects at birth, injury, or chronic conditions may cause pain, stiffness, and immobility. Spine conditions often cause radiating pain to nearby areas including the neck, arms, hips, and legs. Common spine conditions include:

Spinal Arthritis or Osteoarthritis of the Spine

Degeneration of the joint and disc cartilage in the cervical and lumbar spine. Osteoarthritis can produce bone spurs that put pressures on nerves and causes pain and weakness in the in the extremities.

Facet Joint Syndrome

The facet joints in the spine provide stability and experience constant repetitive motion. Inflammation of the facet joints can cause pain, stiffness, and immobility. Pain is more extensive after long periods of inactivity and can be exacerbated by poor posture.

Degenerative Disc Disease

A wear and tear condition that causes drying out or cracking of the cervical and lumbar spinal discs. Degenerative disc disease can often cause weakness, numbness, and radiating pain through the arms and legs. We generally, see this condition in older populations and also in those who have played many sports throughout their lifetime. Many Athletes who play high impact sports see this injury.

Stress Fracture

Small cracks in the vertebra are also known as spondylolysis and appear most often in the lumbar spine. Most stress fractures occur in the “pars interacticularis”, the thin portion of bone connecting the upper and lower facet joints.

Spondylolisthesis

Spondylolysis often weakens the vertebra and affects the integrity of the spine. Spondylolisthesis is a disorder where the fractured vertebra slips forward over the vertebra beneath it

Herniated Disc, Bulging Disc (Cervical and Lumbar)

A spinal disc condition that occurs when the soft inner core leaks through a crack, causing irritation to nearby nerves. The leaked proteins cause irritation and inflammation, resulting in pain, weakness, or numbness.

Scoliosis

A condition characterized by the irregular curvature of the spine. Most mild cases can be treated non-invasively to help realign the spine. However, severe scoliosis can cause immense pain and be disabling, requiring surgery to correct.

Spinal Stenosis

The narrowing of the spinal column can put pressure on the spinal cord, causing pain, numbness, and problems with balance. Spinal stenosis is often the result of wear-and-tear, herniated discs, thickened ligaments, or other spinal conditions.

Kyphosis & Lordosis

Kordosis is the excessive curvature outward of the spine that causes a hunchback, whereas lordosis is characterized by the excessive inward curvature of the spine.

Osteoporosis

A bone disease that causes bone weakness and brittleness. Osteoporosis causes bone loss, resulting in abnormal tissue structure and reduced denseness.

Sacroiliac (SI) joint dysfunction

The sacroiliac joint connects the spine to the hip, providing support, stability, and mobility. Damage or injury to the sacroiliac joint causes pain in the lower back and buttocks.

Common Spine Surgeries and Procedures

Spine surgery can seem daunting for many patients, which is why our team of specialists works with each patient to encourage non-surgical treatments first. Conservative spine pain therapies may involve chiropractic care, physiotherapy, rehabilitation, anti-inflammatory drugs, and epidural injections.

Depending on the severity of the spine condition, your doctor may recommend spine surgery. Coastal Neurosurgery & Spine is a leader in advanced surgery techniques, relying on minimally invasive arthroscopic surgery when possible. Minimally invasive spine surgeries offer several benefits for patients, including smaller incisions and less tissue damage, resulting in shorter hospital stays and quicker rehabilitation. Common spine surgeries and back pain treatment include:

• Cervical and lumbar spinal fusion surgery - when two or more vertebrae are surgically fused together using metal screws and rods, or a patient’s own bone graft
• Laminotomy, laminectomy (nerve decompression) - partial or complete removal of the spinal lamina, part of the vertebral bone that forms the outer wall of the spinal canal
• Foraminotomy - a minimally invasive decompression surgery to remove bone or tissue that is causing spinal cord compression
• Discectomy (disc removal) - removal of a herniated spinal disc Disc replacement - removal of a damaged spinal disc and replacement with an artificial disc
• Spinal implants & devices - various spine surgeries require metal screws, rods, hooks, and plates to help stabilize the spine. Sometimes additional devices are used, like spinal cord stimulators, which send electric current to the spine to alter pain signals to the brain.

What Causes SI Joint Dysfunction?

• Too much mobility (hypermobility or instability) will cause the pelvis to lack stability and pain will be felt in the lower back, hip and even the groin area.
• Too stiff (hypomobility or fixation) and the pelvis will feel tense, painful and may limit your mobility. The pain in this scenario will likely lead to pain in the side of the low back, buttocks or even pain down the back of the leg, feeling very similar to sciatica pain.

When inflammation occurs in the joint, it can lead to these problems. Women who have recently been pregnant are more susceptible to sacroiliac joint dysfunction. Young and middle-aged women are the most common to struggle with SI joint pain.

Treatment Options for SI Joint Pain

In most cases, there is more than one treatment—but not all treatments are created equal and may not work without side effects. Some doctors resort to surgery and medications without trying non-invasive approaches first. Here at Coastal Neurosurgery & Spine, we start with treatment strategies that promote natural healing and pain relief.

• Physical Therapy: Certain movements, exercises, and stretches can help improve the mobility and strengthen the surrounding muscles and ligaments to help support the SI joint. Your Coastal provider can help you know what movements will most help your condition.
• Radiofrequency Rhizotomy: This nonsurgical procedure stops the pain with heat by “burning” the nerve causing the pain. This interruption can provide some much-needed relief during the healing process.
• Injections: We use injections, like epidural steroid injections, to help reduce inflammation and allow healing to occur. This is a fast-acting pain relief method that should only be used with other therapies to actually address the cause of the pain.
• Minimally Invasive Surgery: While we never turn to this as our first option of treatment, our spine surgeons will certainly consider minimally invasive joint pain surgery as a potential treatment option. We want to have every helpful option available so each patient is treated with an individualized plan that works best for them.
• Sacroiliac Joint Fusion: Typically our last option, we only suggest SI joint fusion if the other joint pain treatment options aren’t working as desired. The fusion stops the movement in the joint, reducing the pressure causing the discomfort.

If you are struggling with lower back pain that radiates into your legs or groin, you should see a chiropractor today to treat the underlying cause. The sooner you get started, the sooner you can find relief and stop things from getting worse. Adjustments and other therapies have brought relief to many of our patients within just a few visits. We want to help you find a solution that gets you back to feeling great again. Call us now to schedule your Coastal Neurosurgery and Spine consultation!