Chronic Low Back Pain

Chronic low back pain is considered to be low back pain that lasts for 3 months or more, is generally accompanied by stiffness in the morning, which improves 15 to 20 minutes after starting activities in the morning. Hello, this type of pain is generally related to the aging process of the spine and is characterized by low back pain that can run towards both buttocks or towards the back and discreetly towards the sides of both thighs, rarely exceeding the knee.

There are several treatment options for this pain. Most of the time, it can be controlled with conservative management, combining medication, physical therapy, rehabilitation, good hygiene of the spine, exercise, and sometimes non-surgical interventions such as facet block and radiofrequency.

The facet block implies under X-ray control (fluoroscope) guiding a very fine needle into the joint, the joints that are painful within the joint, local anesthesia and medication are given to mitigate the pain as it proceeds with its rehabilitation and lumbar strengthening. As an alternative to the use of medications, there is also the option with plasma growth factors, which stimulates the repair of the cartilage of said joint. with the application of medications one can expect 3 to 4 months of pain relief as a therapeutic option and with plasma growth factors one can expect up to 6 months of pain relief.

Radiofrequency involves lowering a tip with a sensor that can detect proximity to the nerve since we are targeting the small nerve branches that give sensitivity to the facet joint and with this stimulate the nerve, as a security measure, confirming that we are not close from some other nerve that we don't want to treat. Once we stimulate and we are certain that we are exclusively treating that branch of the nerve that gives sensitivity to the facet, we proceed to treat that nerve with radiofrequency and what is obtained is a desensitization of that joint and with this obtain on average one year of pain relief.