Finding the Source of Your Chronic Pain Can Help You Understand Treatment Options
The task of having to find a nurosurgeon with an open appointment at the end of the year can be a challenge. As many people try to schedule their surgeries and procedures while their insurance deductibles are met, you may be able to find a nurosurgeon with an introductory appointment opening, but most of their surgery spots may be full. Whether you are looking for relieve from back pain or you are in search of the source of chronic pain, it is important to make sure that you meet with a doctor as soon as possible. Instead of dealing with chronic pain that keeps you from being effective at work, finding out what is the root of your problem can help you find a solution.
Bulging discs may be able to be treated with a minimally-invasive surgery, but brain tumors obviously require far more intensive treatment. No matter what the source of your chronic pain is, it is important to meet with a qualified health profession and get a diagnosis so that you can start looking at treatment options. From fusing lower back vertebrae to getting the news that you need to treat a brain tumor, not all news from the doctor is easy to handle. Not knowing, however, is even worse.
Consider some of these facts and figures about the many reasons that people deal with chronic pain and the treatment options that are the most common:
- 1.5 billion people live with chronic pain.
- 80% of adults will experience low back pain at some point in their life, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
- Surgery is necessary for a patient to achieve relief from pain and loss of function in approximately 10% of all bulging disc cases.
- An estimated 30% of people between the ages of 30 and 50 years old will have some degree of disc space degeneration, an indicator that generative disc disease (DDD) is fairly common.
- The lower back is where 90% of bulging discs occur.
- Cervical, upper spine; thoracic, middle spine: and lumbar, lower spine are the three spinal regions where bulging disc can originate.
If you are still suffering from chronic pain as the end of 2017 arrives, maybe it is time that you finally get an appointment with a specialist to see if you can find a solution and, more importantly, a treatment.