Answer:
Can you fix your back without spine surgery? well...the answer is "yes, no, and maybe". Most spine health experts would agree, the better questions are: 1) What is exactly wrong with my back?, and 2) what are my very best options to fix the specific problem that I have?. As any honest, experienced spine surgeon will tell you, most back or "lumbar spine" problems do not require surgery. In fact, nearly 100% of adults in the US and other western / industrialized nations will have clinically significant back pain at one point or another. Of this group, most of the back pain episodes will resolve spontaneously over a week or two, and will not recur. Some people will have low back pain and related symptoms that last longer. Seeking supportive help from a primary physician and a chiropractor, physical therapist or similar non-operative health care professional is a reasonable next step. Anyone with back pain that continues for 6 weeks or longer should reasonably seek the expertise of a fellowship-trained spine surgeon as a best way of pinpointing a clear diagnosis in order to specifically guide further treatment options. This may require x-rays, MRI's or other imaging studies to help pinpoint a source for pain.
Even in this setting with prolonged back pain, many patients will have a list of non-operative options that will make sense as a next step. Depending on the exact diagnosis and reason for back pain, these other treatment options may include anti-inflammatory medicines (natural or pharmaceutical), physical therapy, diagnostic or therapeutic epidural injections, treatment with a chiropractor, or other first line approaches.
When all is said and done, some patients will require surgery as a best option for back pain. This includes patients with diagnoses that range from:
· spinal tumors and spine infections, to those with
· spinal compression fractures or other injuries, to those with
· back pain from severe degenerative conditions that have failed to respond to non-operative options that have been specifically targeted to the specific source of pain
· and other conditions.