Back pain can occur at any point along your spine, including the thoracic (mid-back) and lumbar (low back) regions. It’s most common in the lumbar spine and is chronic if it lasts for three months or longer.

There are lots of conditions and injuries affecting the spine and nearby tissues that can lead to back pain. At The Neck and Back Institute of Florida, Dr. Creek evaluates your back and can diagnose:

• Muscle strain

• Osteoarthritis

• Spinal stenosis

• Bone spurs

• Vertebral fractures

• Disc herniation or bulging disc

• Failed back surgery syndrome

• Tumors of the spine

• Scoliosis

Sometimes, back pain comes with radiating symptoms like pain, numbness, tingling, or weakness through other parts of your body like your legs. This is called referred pain and is usually an indication of radiculopathy, or a compressed nerve root near the spine. In the lower back, sciatic nerve root compression can cause sciatica.

In many cases, Dr. Creek can diagnose back pain with a physical exam. He evaluates various metrics like your balance, reflexes, and range of motion to find out where your back pain originates and what causes it.

If your symptoms, medical history, and physical exam point toward a spinal injury or condition, Dr. Creek may use diagnostic tests for a closer look. He chooses tests like X-rays, MRI scans, and electromyography (EMG), according to which type would best highlight the condition he suspects you have.

Using imaging tests like X-rays and MRI scans, Dr. Creek can plan surgery to treat specific conditions compressing your nerves like disc herniation or spinal stenosis.

The wide majority of back pain cases are manageable with non-surgical strategies, like physical therapy, spinal injections, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications, and activity modification.

If structural issues are causing your back pain and non-surgical methods can’t provide sufficient relief, Dr. Creek goes over your options for back pain surgery. Many of his techniques are minimally invasive and require short recovery times, minimal preparation, and hardly any scarring. The surgeries that can treat the underlying cause of back pain include:

• Minimally invasive discectomy

• Minimally invasive laminotomy

• Minimally invasive foraminotomy

• Minimally invasive lateral fusion

• Anterior lumbar interbody fusion (ALIF)

• Lumbar disc replacement

• Laminoplasty

• Ultrasonic decompression

• Posterior lumbar fusion (PLIF, TLIF)

• Adult scoliosis surgery

Dr. Creek describes his technique in detail so you know what to expect as you prepare and recover from the surgery. You come in for follow-up visits so he can make sure your back is healing properly.

Also, if you had back surgery previously and it did not provide sufficient relief, Dr. Creek can perform revision back surgery.