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Back Pain-Am I a Victim of Spinal Compression Fracture?

A Compression Fracture occurs when the bones of the spine i.e. the vertebrae collapses. Such fracture can lead to the destruction of our vertebrae completely leaving us in poor posture, in acute pain, and loss of height etc.

How do you fall prey to compression fractures?

Osteoporosis is the most common reason that can lead you to such fractures. As a result of this disease, spine bones become weak and they are totally unable to support normal stress and pressure. And eventually, by only coughing, twisting or lifting the vertebra will be fractured.

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Furthermore, an injury to the spine which is so hard that it has affected your buttocks or a blow on the head can cause spinal compression fracture. Such fractures also occur, if cancer spreads in the whole body and weakens the spine bone.

Check the below symptoms for Compression Fractures:

Generally the symptoms that link your bodily issues with compression fractures include:

  • Persisting back pain
  • Loss of height
  • Stooped Posture
  • Numbness or tingling in the legs or back
  • Weakness
  • Problems in walking
  • Loss of bowel or bladder control.

What should be done to cure the fractures?

Since months if you are taking medications, or following non surgical treatments, and you still left with pain not being diminished at all; as if the pain has not responded to the medications at all or you are even unable to complete the daily routine work then its better that you consider one sufficient surgical treatment known as microdiscectomy.

Microdiscectomy will help treat Compression Fractures

Microdiscectomy typically performed for the back pain issues or the herniated lumbar disc, is actually more effective in alleviating pain. The major aim of this surgery is to relieve back pain by taking off the pressure from the nerves.

In the surgical process the surgeon first visualizes the nerve root. A little part from the inside of the facet joint is removed which eases the access to nerve root and relieves the pressure from the nerve. Then the disc fragment is removed from under the nerve root.

As after this surgery, all the joints, the ligaments and muscles are left intact so there is no change in the lower spine’s mechanical structure of the patient.

After this surgery

The chronic pains that you have been facing for so long due to the fractures are relieved to a greater extent after this treatment and the patients will be able to resume their activity within 2 weeks of the procedure. But microdiscectomy will only act as a cure, if you after this procedure take a lot of care of yourself, keep taking the medications strictly, protect yourself from any huge injuries, have a balanced and nutritious diet etc.

Hence, aim for quicker recovery and less pain as everyone is important for their loved ones. And when your target will be such you will choose for yourself the perfect treatment that will eventually grant you relief from the excruciating pain that you were once facing.

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How to Avoid Car Accidents

Elaboration on this Issue

It has been observed that the cases in which people have died in cars’ accidents are more than those who died because of some other reason. In United States 29% of all injury deaths are caused by car accident, and it has also been seen to be 47% of all unintended deaths. More than 80% of road accidents include drivers and many different occupations, and rest of 20% includes motorcyclist, cycle riders and pedestrians.

How Fast Is It Becoming More Problematic?

In Minnesota, many deaths which are related to injuries caused by car’s accident and it has become more problematic as almost people of all age groups have got affected by this specific cause of injury. Behind 50% of traumatic brain injuries and 60% of injuries of spinal cord there is only one reason, which is car accident injury. It depicts the hazardous outcomes of increasing ratio of accidents. Young drivers between the ages of 15 to 24 have many chances to come across such mishaps, and not only young drivers aged drivers and those who do not prefer to fasten belts while sitting in a car are also considered to come across such accidents. The treatment charges are much high for pedestrians who get injured by car’s accident, and aged people are much vulnerable to lose their lives because of road side accidents.

How the Ratio of Car’s Accidents Got Reduced?

The ratio of the deaths specifically caused by car’s accidents has been decreasing, and it is because of many reasons and one of them is that people have understood the importance of seat belts. And some other reasons include less ratio of Alcoholic drinking, good and maintained roads, cars which have much options of avoiding accident, on the spot emergency medical services. And there are many things which need to be improved in all these specific areas to decrease the ratio of car accidents.

What Are Those Preventions Which Need To Be Followed By Common People?

In order to prevent car accident injuries, there are some steps which should be taken and awareness of all those preventions must be passed on to common people.  Below are few preventing steps you must keep in mind:

  • Public safety seminars and other programs must be conducted to deliver the importance of using seat belts to common people. And it should be the main concern of the government to increase the awareness among common people to fasten seat belts before they go to drive their cars. It is one of the most important prevention to avoid car accident, which needs to be focused by both government and common people.
  • Youngsters below 18 must not be allowed to drive a car and there should be continuous promotion of graduated licensing system. With that there is another prevention which is to retest aged drivers and it should be done frequently, as they are at high risk of coming across car accident than others.
  • Government and people need to unite to take steps for restricting drivers not to use any alcoholic drink soon before they drive, as they would not only harm their lives only but also the lives of people who walk on the track alongside road.
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Do You Know Cancer Pain Isolates You From A Society?

You coping with cancer, experience pain as an indication of having cancer or as a side effect caused by cancer’s treatment. You should not be worried to get rid of a cancer pain, as it is effectively treated by the help of a doctor. Fatigue and some other symptoms which has the high chances to damage your quality life is called (supportive care or palliative), and it is an integral part of your cancer treatment’s plan. In order to have the most useful and health friendly strategy to get rid of pain is suggested to you by your doctor. Your health care team may suggest you to have an extra pain management strategy, if your pain is intolerable.

How Do You Get Pain Relief?

You will find various sorts of cancer pain management with few pains that are really not tolerable. It does not last so long after you undergo effective and a perfect pain management treatment. Pain emerges in your body on and off after the treatment or it may become chronic pain which has one demerit that it takes a long time to disappear from your body. There is another sort of pain which is called breakthrough pain and it lasts and increases even if you have undergone the treatment. Your doctor must have the proper information about your pain’s condition.  Remember if you get lazy to undergo proper treatment of cancer pain then it would worsen, which may give you mental illness and would make you isolated from the society. You can take some steps to reduce your pain yourself to some extent, which includes keeping healthy diet, having stress free activities and spending quality time with family.

Do Not Hide Any Condition You Experience

It is not necessary that all the patients of cancer pain have same conditions of pain. If you want to get rid of pain then you need to have effective meeting with your health care team to identify the main cause of your pain, which would help your doctor and the team to come up with an effective treatment for you.

The Importance of Pain Journal to Inform Your Doctor Well about Pain

If you want to describe your case well in front of your doctor about your pain you would need a pain journal, which would include all the details which your doctor may ask you. You need to include each and every aspect of your health in that pain journal. Below are the points you would want to include in pain journal

  • The date you suffered from pain and what was the time of going through cancer with the information of how long it stayed in your body.
  • You need to add that what activity you were involved in when pain attacked you.
  • Explain which part of your body pain attacked and did it confine to one part of the body or expanded all over your body
  • Number the condition of your pain between zero to 10, and 10 would be considered the highest and the last extreme level of pain. It would help your doctor to understand the condition of your pain.
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What should be done after an Auto-Accident-Injury Complications

A traffic collision, motor vehicle collision, car accident, car crash or car smash occurs when a vehicle collides with another vehicle, pedestrian, animal, road, debris or other Auto & Work Injury.

Whenever an accident occurs, be it minor or major, the passengers not even realize whether they have been hurt or not, until weeks or months later when minor injuries develop into chronic headaches, long lasting pain or even arthritis. In fact, when such an incident takes place, people usually hurry in going home, ignoring the fact that they must be injured deeply. Hence, even non life threatening and small car accidents can have huge impact on the lives of the sufferer.

Types of injuries that are faced in result of such accidents include:

Head Injury

There are two main categories of head injury namely; focal injuries and diffuse injuries.

Focal Injuries: these are usually caused by direct blows to the head and consist of contusions, brain lacerations and hemorrhage leading to the formation of haematoma in the extradural, subarachnoid, subdural or intracerebral compartments within the head.

Diffuse Brain Injuries: these are usually caused by sudden movement of the head and cause diffuse axonal injury.

Spinal Cord Injury

The damage to this part of the body is caused when displaced bone fragments, disc material or ligaments bruise or tear into spinal cord tissue destroying axons. Damage to the spinal cord often results in a loss of function or feeling.

Facial Injuries

In a road accident a facial injury is common as it can be caused by steering of the wheel, dashboard, airbag, windshield, side window, car seats or shattered glass.

Internal Injuries

The impact of motor vehicle accident can cause internal injuries including injuries to bowels, kidneys, spleen, liver, lungs, heart or aorta. Pain in the whole body and in some specific areas might disclose having fractures in ribs causing puncture lungs and other internal organs. The internal injuries are life threatening, and should be taken care of. Furthermore, they should be treated as soon as possible.

Approach to such Accidents and actions taken for above injuries.

In case of persistent pain after complete treatment from a doctor and after being declared clear of all injuries, you must visit a chiropractor or Pain Management Institute. This will help you in treating those left over problems.

If these are not properly treated, then the discomfort will turn into continuous pain. The chiropractic approach includes treating injuries to use specific manual adjustments and manipulations to help revert the spine to the normal condition.

When a doctor treats such patients, they ask about the accident, symptoms and also your medical history. After this consultation they will recommend a course of treatment. The techniques that would be followed include, manual manipulation, controlled exercises, postural and lifestyle advices and ultrasound etc. If the injury is treated at its earliest then the inflammation and car tissue can be properly managed and taken care of. You must always pay heed to whatever pains you are facing after an accident and the best advice is to visit a chiropractor for help.

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Personal injury – An injury relating to oneself

Personal injury is an injury to the body, mind or emotions as opposed to an injury to property. Whether you are into a work and you get a hand injury, or if you fell off in your own house and get injured, it is extremely important to receive prompt care and prevent your personal injury from worsening. At Pain Management Institute, we have our physicians who can provide sufficient and reliable care in terms of muscle, bone, nerve or any personal injuries.

The common personal injuries include:

  • Back Pain
  • Headaches
  • Herniated Discs
  • Leg Pain
  • Neck Pain
  • Neuropathy
  • RSD/CRPS Reflex
  • Whiplash Injury

We have on board, certified physicians who are experts of evaluation, diagnosis and comprehensive treatment of personal injuries. For different types of musculoskeletal, nerve and orthopedic conditions caused by personal injury accidents, we have with us a specialized dedicated team providing high quality of non surgical pain and injury evaluation treatments and rehabilitation.

As we have a full team of health experts that specialize in personal injuries and work closely together in coordination for the sake of our patients, we are able to optimize results.

Our treatments include:

  • Onsite Diagnostics
  • Physical therapy Modalities
  • Rehabilitation
  • Pain Management
  • Primary Care Medicine

Our Prompt Reports:

For our patient’s convenience we offer a perfect reporting system and ensure two way communications both from our end as well as the patients. For this our system includes:

  • Timely status reports
  • Prompt evaluation and treatment of personal injuries
  • Instant response to and from our physicians
  • Concise exam notes and credible reports generated quickly after each exam.
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Elaboration on Lumbar Sympathetic blocks

What is a Lumbar Sympathetic Block?

“A lumbar Sympathetic Block” is an injection of local anesthetic into or around the sympathetic nerves. These nerves are a part of the sympathetic nervous system. The nerves are located on either side of the spine, in the lower back. Normally these nerves are responsible for the controlling of basic functions like regulating blood flow.

What is the purpose of Lumbar Sympathetic Block?

The reason to perform this is to block the sympathetic nerves that go to the leg on the same side as the injection. The result is reduction in pain, swelling, color, sweating and other changes in the lower extremity. It is done as a part of the treatment of Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD), Sympathetic Maintained Pain, Complex Regional Pain Syndrome and Herpes Zoster (shingles) involving the legs. Patients with neuropathy or peripheral vascular disease may also benefit from lumbar sympathetic blocks.

Procedure

The target of this procedure is a small space just in front of the vertebral bodies of the lumbar spine where the sympathetic lie. A small thin needle is inserted and guided towards the ganglion. A small amount of local anesthetic is injected, once the needle tip is in the proper position adjacent to the sympathetic ganglion. When the injection is complete, a small dressing will be placed and your physician or specialist will gauge the after effects of the treatment. Pain relief will surely follow after experiencing a warm sensation on the side of the leg where the procedure was performed.

What should one expect after?

After a successful blockade of the sympathetic nervous system there will be an increase in the skin temperature. That is; a warmth sensation felt over the leg where the treatment took place. After the procedure is completed there are several possible outcomes:

  1. After the anesthetic effect is worn off, the pain is improved or even eliminated for several days. This describes an obvious therapeutic value for the procedure as well as an insight as to the process causing pain and guiding the future treatment plan to maximize the pain control.
  2. The warm sensation in the leg depicts a successful sympathetic blockade; however there is no pain relief. This means that the block was successful and the lack of pain relief will be diagnostic value to your doctor. This will help guide your physician/specialist while coming up with the future treatment plans.
  3. There is no sensation of warmth in the leg and there is no pain relief. This is a clear sign that the blockade was not performed correctly. And it may be required to repeat the process properly to see whether or not the pain the pain is driven by sympathetic nervous system. 

The merits of this procedure include

  • It is a minimally invasive treatment with the potential of relieving pain where other conventional therapies have failed.
  • The injection has the ability to offer immediate pain relief by allowing the patients to participate in physical therapy and return to their normal daily activities.
  • It can also be used to treat and diagnose variety of pains that are non responsive to conventional therapies.
  • The procedure is used in the treatment of CRPS, phantom limb pain, post herpetic neuralgia, ischemic limb pain and cancer pain.

If you are suffering from chronic pain that has failed to respond to treatment and would like to see if you may be a candidate for a Lumbar Sympathetic block, contact our Pain Management Institute today.

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Steps for after a “slip and fall” accident in the work area

Slip and fall injury mishaps are very troublesome, as they can happen to anyone anywhere. It doesn’t matter whether the weather is snowy or icy that would become the reason of the fall. Truth is many of us have experienced a slip or a fall injury once in a life time or maybe more times. And it would be most likely not our fault. Be it not our error or not, whenever such mishap occurs we must approach a pain management center straightaway to get an apt treatment.

The majority of slip and fall injuries result in relatively minor “soft tissue” injuries. For instance, sprained tendons, ligaments and muscles, minor contusions and abrasions, small gashes and minor burns.

It is noticed that a large number of slip and fall injuries are very serious and are referred to as “hard injuries”. These include head trauma, disc herniations, fractures, amputations, deep gashes and third or fourth degree burns.

The steps you must take after a slip and fall accident include:

Steps after the misfortunate accident

Medical Help

Your health or the health of a loved one or a friend is the top most priority. You must seek medical help immediately; visiting a pain management center for treatment. By documenting your injuries you will also be able to provide proof, if you choose to seek compensation of your medical bills.

Report it

If the mishap of slipping/falling took place in a store, apartment building, your friend’s house or elsewhere, make sure you report it to the manager, owner or the landlord. A report must be made from the side of the business manager or landlord and you must obtain a copy before you leave.

Keep Calm

If in case you get injured on a home owner’s property, then instead of panicking you must stay calm and considering your injuries visit a pain center for the right help. Getting angry and upset will not provide you with any benefit whatsoever.

Take Photos

Document or remember the exact location where you fell, including stairs, railings, ice patches, or any other condition that contributed to the fall. This will help you avail the best treatment by discussing the scene in detail with your doctor.

Area

Take a quick scan of the area. Look for what may have caused you to fall. It is usually difficult to be in a normal mood right after you fall. But it’s important that you look for anything immediate around you. Ask the witnesses if they saw anything about the area so that it will be helpful when you report.

Shoes and clothing

Place the shoes and clothes that you were wearing during the accident in a safe storage place. This, maybe a relevant evidence for later use.

Get the info

Collect name, phone numbers and addresses of any possible witnesses. This will help you in proving your version down the road.

Follow up

Go to an appropriate Pain Management Institute. Make sure what the immediate and long term effects of the injury are. When you have a complete understanding you can either:

  • Contact a lawyer
  • Contact the store directly.

It is best to talk with a lawyer experienced in slip and fall. However, if you want to sort it out without the help of a lawyer then you must approach the store manager directly. Present to them doctor’s reports and the invoices on your losses and ask to be compensated. At that point they will take the matter to the insurance team and they will then try to settle it with you.

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What do you know about lumbar sympathetic block

It is an injection that falls under the category of local anesthesia. This injection is used in or around sympathetic nerves and gives you relief from back pain management. The sympathetic nervous system includes sympathetic nerves. These nerves can be seen at any side of spine at lower back. The function of these nerves is to sustain and maintain the blood flow. In some specific situations these sympathetic nerves pass the pain’s indication to spinal cord from peripheral tissues. This lumbar sympathetic block comprises of injections,which are for relieving sciatica happened by hazardous regional pain syndromes.

What is this lumbar sympathetic block for?

It helps to block sympathetic nerves which reach to leg on the same side as injection. This decreases back pain and removes swelling. This lumbar sympathetic block also allows a patient to have pain free physical movement. It is very helpful for the treatment of Reflex sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD) and this lumbar sympathetic blockage is performed for relieving complex regional pain syndrome as well. Patients of peripheral vascular have also the chance to get benefited from lumbar sympathetic blocks

Do you get pain while experiencing lumbar sympathetic block?

IT does not give you that much pain as lumbar sympathetic block does not require a typical surgery to happen. In this procedure a needle is entered through skin. Numbing of skin and numbing of deeper tissues are done by a doctor not to let you experience pain. Sedation of intravenous is what which helps patients to go through this lumbar sympathetic treatment comfortably.

How is this procedure done?

In the procedure of lumbar sympathetic block patient is asked to lie down on stomach. The patients are observed by an oxygen-monitoring device. Temperature detecting device can also be placed on the patient’s feet. This treatment is done in the germ-free conditions. Patient’s back skin is cleaned by antiseptic liquid and then doctor numbs the patient’s skin with a local anesthesia. Then for confirming needles have placed into the proper position successfully along the outer area of spine X-ray is used by a doctor. By using a dose of dye doctors approve that entered medication will reach particular area. The doctor takes help of an X RAY to examine the expansion of entered medication.

What does a patient feel after lumbar sympathetic block

Soon after the injection a patient feels that his/her lower is getting warm. Patient feels and observes that pain has gone or has reduced. You may feel short numbness in the leg but it would not last for a greater period of time.

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Cancer Pain-Relief is possible

Cancer pain or the statement of a doctor declaring this disease is nothing more than a nightmare. It could be one of the most devastating conditions you could feel throughout your life. Coming under the heading of a cancer patient, if you think to relax yourself with a pill or with any other unprescribed treatment then the relief would definitely seem impossible. Relief is surely possible if an appropriate cancer pain management specialist is approached. These specialists only can assist to overcome the discomfort and the overwhelming sense of feeling bad.

Causes of cancer that result in Cancer pain

Symptoms and treatment of this disease depends on the type of cancer and how advanced it is. Cancer grows from the normal cells in the body. When the body needs them the normal cells multiply themselves and they die when the body is in no need. When the growth of cell is out of control in the body and cells divide too rapidly then cancer appears. It can also occur when the cells forget to die. The start takes place when the changes appear in the mutation of the DNA, due to which the cells keep on growing. As a result, the cells reproduce in an uncontrolled manner producing a lump of tissue known as the tumor.

Relief from Cancer

Usually lungs and pancreatic cancers are the worst. They can even cause death within a year. But the good news is that, not all cancers are untreatable. Proper cancer pain management will surely lead to the ways of fighting and curing this disease. The objective of cancer treatment is either to cure the disease, to control it or to reduce the symptoms. Because treatment for cancer can also damage healthy cells and tissues, including the side effects as well.

Cancer Pain Treatment

  • Surgery

This is the most common way of treating a cancer pain; that is by operating. It rarely happens that the disease spreads during operation. Cancer does not spread when it is exposed to the air.

Side effects:

  • Terrible pain
  • Tiredness and weakness
  • Radiotherapy

It is a treatment that kills cancer cells in an infected area. It can be done externally by a machine that aims the radiation at the targeted area. It can also be done internally by needles, seeds, wires and so on. The biggest advantage of this treatment is that it is absolutely painless. Some people often fear that with external radiotherapy, the body might get radioactive as well. But actually nothing as such happens. On the other hand, the internal treatment will require a patient’s day to day visits in the hospital until the permanent implant goes down a safe level.

Side effects:

  • Feeling tired after treatment
  • By this process most of the white blood cells are killed that usually protect the body against infection.
  • Hair loss
  • Skin becomes red, dry, tender and itchy.
  • Chemotherapy

This is a method that uses drugs to kill cancer cells throughout the body. But, by this treatment the healthy cells may also be harmed. The cancer pain management specialist might use one drug or a combination of drugs to control the cancer cells from spreading. As a result after chemotherapy, body starts producing the normal cells.

Side effects

  • Hair loss
  • Temporary fatigue
  • Poor appetite, nausea and vomiting
  • Hormone Therapy

As its name suggests, it is a method of treating cancer by preventing certain hormones from growth. This is done with the use of drugs. Some hormone therapies even involve the removal of hormone producing organ in order to restrict the hormone from secreting.

Side effects

  • Tiredness
  • Having fluid retention
  • Weight gain
  • Bone loss in premenopausal women

Biological Therapy

This method uses our body’s own immune system to fight the disease or to reduce the side effects of cancer treatment. This is the most suggested way of treating cancer.

Side Effects

  • Causes flu-like symptoms
  • Bleeding or bruises occur easily.

What should be done? The first and foremost step of overcoming cancer pain is to seek help from a pain management specialist. A specialist would not only offer solutions but also tips and an elaborate treatment that would bring a depressed and ill person back towards life.

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What do you know about selective nerve block?

Selective nerve root block and epidural injection have similarity, as the procedure and tactic identical. Here epidural has been mentioned to indicate the space out of Dura or surrounding of the spinal cord and under the spinal canal and consecutive length of spinal cord. This particular sort of epidural injection is for two purposes one is for diagnosing and another for therapeutic. Numbing agents like lidocaine, and steroid are entered in the nerve root which needs to be curable. Patients feel the changes in his/her pain after the procedure. Physician observes the patient’s response after examining the patient who undergoes this particular procedure. Only one nerve is processed by numbing as the dose is small which is used for it. This procedure guides physician to identify which nerve is the reason for a patient to have pain. Patient gets relief from pain and from inflammation by this comprehensive pain management treatment.

How is this procedure done?

Patient is suggested to undergo this selective nerve root blocking by a doctor to confirm a particular damage to nerve or remove the pain which occurs in back, neck, and limb. Pinched nerve and spinal stenosis are the reasons for damaged nerves which are diagnosed by this procedure and it also helps to reduce pain which causes by injury. While the process of selective nerve block doctor focuses on a particular suppressed and effected nerves in your cervical spine, lumber spine, and thoracic spine. Then doctors enter numbing agents like anesthetic, corticosteroid or may be the mixture of these numbing medications for damaged nerves. The doctor can also take the help of an X ray machine to find the damaged nerve and it is called fluoroscope, which brings the live images of your nerve’s condition on a screen. There are also some specific selective nerve roots blocks which happen to identify problem in particular nerve and Other blocks help the doctor to treat a damaged nerve. There is another option too your doctor may ask you to undergo which is scanning procedure and it is an alternative of fluoroscope.

What does this procedure offer you?

As you compare the epidural steroid injection with the selective nerve root block you would find that selective nerve root block gives more information to a doctor while he/she identifying the cause of your pain. Your nerve related issues can be cured equally by an epidural steroid injection and selective nerve root blocks. The benefits of comprehensive pain management for damaged nerves in your cervical spine, lumber spine and thoracic spine can be achieved by this selective nerve blocking.

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