Does Back Have to Accompany Aging?

If you have back pain, you’re not alone. In fact, 80% of Americans struggle with lower back pain at some point in their lives. In most cases, you can bounce back from bouts of back pain quickly in your younger years. But, as you grow older, it can be harder for your body to recover from age-related back pain because of increased wear and tear on your spine.

But, even though your chances of having back pain can increase with age, that doesn’t mean you have to live with it. Dr. Daniel Nelson and our team in Kirkland, Washington, offer effective tools that can help you regain pain-free mobility so you can enjoy an active and happy life well into the future.

Here’s a look at why you may have more back pain as you grow older and how we can help.

Getting to the bottom of back pain

To better understand why back pain tends to occur more frequently as you get older, it’s helpful to take a closer look at the internal structures in your back and how they change as you age.

Your spine is at the core of your back and contains 33 vertebrae and 23 discs. You also have a host of other structures surrounding your spine, such as muscles, ligaments, and tendons, that all come together to support your spine. Together, this area plays an enormous role as the foundational support for your entire musculoskeletal system. 

Unfortunately, as your back works day in and day out to provide you with support, mobility, and range of motion, all of its support systems can begin to develop wear and tear. Some of the most common degenerative conditions that can develop because of this include:

• Osteoarthritis
• Herniated discs
• Degenerative disc disease
• Osteoporosis
• Compression fractures due to osteoporosis
• Spinal stenosis
• Spondylolisthesis

Because your nervous system also passes through your spine, any compression along your spine can compress or irritate the highly sensitive nerve roots in the area and cause back pain.

Taking control of back pain

Dr. Nelson and our team take a comprehensive approach to back pain with the ultimate goal of providing you with sustainable results. Our first step is to thoroughly assess your back pain so we can locate the precise cause. 

Far too often, back pain is only treated symptomatically, without doing the real work of identifying and fixing the problem at the source. At our practice, we identify the problem first, so we can recommend a treatment plan that provides you with immediate relief and long-term results.

In most cases, we take a multi-pronged approach to treating back pain that involves one or more of the following techniques:

• Physical therapy
• Acupuncture
• Massage therapy
• Chiropractic care
• Joint injections, steroids, or nerve blocks
• Radiofrequency neurotomy
• Kyphoplasty
• Spinal cord stimulation

Dr. Nelson also offers cutting-edge treatments, such as platelet-rich plasma therapy and stem cell injections. These forms of regenerative medicine can help relieve your pain by triggering your body to heal damaged or diseased tissue.

At our practice, we tailor each of our treatment programs to our patients’ unique situations. We will work with you so you can enjoy a life free from back pain.

If you have back pain and want treatment, contact the office of Dr. Daniel Nelson at 425-247-3969 today.