Comprehensive Back Pain Care at Placentia-Linda Hospital

Get back to daily activities without discomfort. Whether your back pain is due to injury or a long-term condition, advanced back and spine care across California awaits you at Placentia-Linda Hospital. We offer diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation services by a team of orthopedic specialists, nurses and health professionals.

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What Causes Back Pain?

About 70-85% of Americans may experience back pain in their lifetime according to the American Association of Neurological Surgeons. And 50% of those people will experience at least one episode a year.

Back pain can be debilitating and can affect your daily routine. Lower back pain, or lumbago, is back pain felt from the neck down to the hips. Usually, upper back pain and lower back pain is not serious and resolves itself within weeks. However, if you experience back pain that affects your daily activities, you can consult our back specialists for proper diagnosis and treatment.

There are several causes of back pain, which may range from a simple strain to a more serious condition:

1. Strain
   In many cases, back pain is caused by a simple strain to a muscle or ligament. It can also be caused by back spasms, muscle tension, damaged disks or simple injuries from lifting something too heavy or lifting something incorrectly. If that’s the case, keep in mind that being active will not make your back pain worse. It’s best to continue with your daily activities and keep moving.
2. Structural problems
   Our spine consists of 33 individual locking bones called the vertebrae. Spinal discs cushion each vertebra. These discs can bulge, herniate or rupture which can cause back pain. Conditions and changes of nearby organs also lead to back pain.
   • Ruptured disks – a rupture puts more pressure on the nerves causing back pain.
   • Bulging disks – similar to a rupture, a budge puts pressure on the nerves causing pain.
   • Arthritis – occurs by a narrowing of space in the spinal cord. Also called spinal stenosis.
   • Abnormal curvature – when the spine curves abnormally.
   • Osteoporosis – when the bones become porous which increases the chances of a fracture.
   • Kidney problems – back pain may be a symptom of a kidney stone or a kidney infection.
3. Movement and posture
   Back pain can be a result of poor posture for extended periods of time, such as:
   • standing or sitting for long periods
   • straining the neck forward, such as when driving or using a computer
   • continuous driving without a break, even when not hunched over
   • sleeping on a mattress that does not provide proper support or keep the spine straight
4. Other causes
   Back pain may also be a symptom of other conditions such as:
   • Cauda equina syndrome – when a disc pushes against the bundle of nerve roots at the lower part of the spine. Along with back pain, this can also affect bowel and bladder functions.
   • Cancer of the spine – a tumor in the spine which can put pressure on the nerves.
   • Sleep disorders – people with sleep disorders have higher risk of back pain.
   • Shingles – an infection of the nerves which may cause back pain if the spinal nerves affected.
   • Pregnancy – when expecting mothers gain weight, the center of gravity shifts which puts additional pressure on the spine.

Back and Spine Care at
Placentia-Linda Hospital

You should see a back pain specialist if you experience:

• Prolonged pain
• Pain that interrupts daily activities
• Pain that prevents you from doing what you enjoy
• Pain that gets worse over time

We have different back pain specialists across California who can provide back pain relief:

• Chiropractor – focusing on the spinal joints, they will diagnose your condition through touch and visual palpitation. They may also request imaging, blood or urine tests.
• Osteopath – similar with chiropractors, osteopaths diagnose your condition through palpitations and visual inspection. They focus on mobilization, pressure or joint and muscle manipulation.
• Physical therapist – they focus on joints and soft tissues.

Tests and Screenings

Receiving an accurate diagnosis is the first step in designing a treatment plan for your back and spine condition. At Placentia-Linda Hospital, we offer a range of screenings and tests to help with diagnosis. These include:

• Computed tomography (CT)
• High-field open magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)

Conditions Treated

At Placentia-Linda Hospital, our California back pain specialists offer treatment for the following:

• Annular tear
• Arthritis of the spine
• Bone spurs
• Bulging disc
• Canal stenosis
• Cervical spondylosis
• Collapsed disc
• Degenerative disc disease (degenerative spine)
• Degenerative joint disease
• Facet disease (facet syndrome)
• Foraminal stenosis (foraminal narrowing)
• Herniated disc (disc extrusion, disc protrusion, ruptured disc, torn disc)
• Myofascial pain syndrome
• Neuropathic pain
• Peripheral neuralgia
• Pinched nerve
• Prolapsed disc
• Radiculopathy (lumbar, cervical)
• Sciatica
• Scoliosis
• Sacroiliac joint dysfunction (SI joint pain)
• Slipped disc
• Spinal stenosis (spinal narrowing)
• Spondylitis
• Spondylolisthesis
• Spondylosis

Procedures and Treatments Offered

Our physicians and specialists at Placentia-Linda Hospital are dedicated to providing patients with individualized spine and back pain treatment plans to get you back to an active lifestyle.

We take great pride in making sure our patients receive the best orthopedic treatment, including back and spine surgery, pain management and prevention, rehabilitation and physical therapy. The back pain specialist may recommend over-the-counter painkillers, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) or physical therapy for back pain. But if these do not resolve the problem, our specialists may recommend back surgery or the following spine and back pain treatments:

• Anterior cervical corpectomy
• Anterior cervical decompression surgery
• Anterior cervical discectomy with fusion
• Anterior lumbar interbody fusion
• Arthroscopic spine surgery
• Artificial disc replacement
• Axial lumbar interbody fusion (ALIF)
• Cervical disc arthroplasty
• Cervical laminoplasty
• Dorsal root ganglion stimulation
• Facet joint and synovial arthrography
• Facet nerve ablation
• Foraminotomy
• Interspinous process fusion
• Kyphoplasty
• Laminectomy/laminotomy
• Laser spine surgery
• Lumbar epidural steroid injection (ESI)
• Medial branch block
• Microdiscectomy (endoscopic or laparoscopic discectomy)
• Posterior cervical foraminotomy
• Posterior cervical fusion
• Posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF)
• Selective nerve root block (SNRB)
• Spinal cord stimulation (neuromodulation)
• Transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF)