Dr. Fulghum’s Bare Back Facts

  1. As people age, back pain and loss of height may be due to thinning of the discs.
  2. A physical therapist does the greatest good for people with back pain by breaking bad habits of posture and poor movement patterns.
  3. When anti-inflammatory medicines, muscles relaxers, walking and/or exercises are instituted immediately, episodes of back pain due to a sprained muscle usually lasts no longer than six weeks.
  4. A sprained back and ruptured disc may produce similar symptoms, but the sprain usually heals within six weeks.
  5. Ruptured, slipped and herniated discs are the same things.
  6. A patient with a ruptured disc in the neck or back may have a normal spinal X-ray but will usually have an abnormal MRI scan.
  7. A ruptured disc or bone spur requires surgery only if the severe pain and weakness persists despite conservative measures such as medication, exercise and steroid injections.
  8. Very few people with ruptured discs require surgery.
  9. Sitting increases pressure in the lower back discs five times more than standing does.
  10. The first back operation is the most important.
  11. After lumbar disc surgery, most people return to their former level of activity within six weeks.
  12. People who smoke usually have back pain for longer periods.
  13. Women are not the only ones to get osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is preventable in both men and women when diagnosis is made early enough.

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Botox® for Pain

The physicians of Carolina Back Institute are continuously reaching to uncover the most innovative treatments for reducing or eliminating pain. Our physicians have found that BOTOX® therapy is very effective for the treatment of pain.

Many people are not aware that BOTOX® treatment is used for purposes other than Cosmetic application. BOTOX® therapy has shown successful results in patients experiencing pain due to muscle spasms, fibromyalgia, and chronic headaches.

The procedure works in this way, BOTOX® injections block the release of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine which interrupts the signals from the nerves to the muscle. This process results in the local exclusion of muscle contractions, which allows the pain from irregular muscle spasms to be significantly reduced.

A Retrospective Study by the Pain and Evaluation Treatment Center in Tulsa, OK, found that 70% of patients with myofascial pain in the back and extremities who received BOTOX® injections over a two-year period reported good to excellent pain relief lasting 2.5 to 3.6 months.

Myofascial pain is a chronic musculoskeletal pain involving a single muscle or muscle group, in which the patient may experience pain in places other than where the pain generator is located.

Additional studies have found that low back pain can be safely and effectively treated with BOTOX® injections even when the patient has experienced no relief through conventional therapy. Studies have proven BOTOX® injections to be superior and longer lasting than traditional steroid therapy, as well. In addition, BOTOX® injections have proven effective in the treatment of headache, neck, back, and shoulder pain.

Preauthorization is required for funding through most insurance companies, however Medicare will provide coverage for BOTOX® injections as a treatment for pain in most circumstances.