Low Back Pain
Low back pain is a common condition characterized by discomfort or stiffness in the lower spine area, often affecting daily activities. It can arise from various causes, including muscle strain, injury, or underlying medical conditions.
Subscribe to the BlogWhat Is a Flexion-Extension X-Ray?
On this page: What is spinal instability? Can instability be seen on an x-ray or MRI? What is a flexion-extension x-ray? The problem with flexion-extension x-rays How to make sure your test is worthwhile Back and neck pain patients and doctors are often confused by the idea of instability in the spine. From the patient’s…read more
Back Fusion Outcome: Fusion Leads to Dead Multifidus
Decisions in Medicine like most things are based on risk vs. benefit. There are life saving procedures and surgeries where the answer is clear, but in non emergency situations, are we doing greater good than harm? A new study looks at the potential damage done to the multifidus in the common surgery, back fusion. So what is…read more
Spinal Stenosis Injections: Never Trust a Back MRI!
Patients considering spinal stenosis injections often come into the office with back pain with thier MRI CDs, believing that this shiny data disc holds the key to their salvation. This makes sense, as many are desperate at that point, their low back having betrayed them by leaving them unable to do what they need to…read more Severe Buttocks Pain After a Fall: A Patient’s Story
On this page: RP’s story Diagnosing the severe buttocks pain Treating a hematoma in the buttocks RP is an elderly physician who I met in the most unlikely of circumstances. He was performing a life insurance physical on me and I noticed he had a cane. We struck up a conversation about his severe buttock…read more What Is the Thoracodorsal Fascia and Why Should You Care?
What if I told you that there’s an important structure holding your spine together that you’ve never heard of? In fact, your doctor has also likely never heard of this structure nor does he likely know what it does. The structure is the TDF and the thoracodorsal fascia function is to hold your lower spine…read more Read Your Own Back MRI for Multifidus Atrophy-A Major Cause of Low Back Pain
So now you know what a “multifidus” is and why it’s so critical that you find out if your major low back stabilizing system if off line. However, 99.999% of the time (in my experience), radiologists fail to read whether this muscle is normal or atrophied, despite copious research that a atrophied (read weaker) multifidus is associated…read more Claw Toes and your Low Back
Is there a relationship between claw toes and your low back? I often see patients with the dreaded “claw toes”. They’re usually middle aged or older and like the picture above, their 2nd through fifth toes have begun to look like a claw. Why? These toes look exactly like what we call an “intrinsic minus hand” that…read more Squat Injuries-You Mean Lifting Large Amounts of Weight with your Spine is a Bad Idea?
Squat injuries? We frequently see low back pain patients who injure themselves performing a squat lift, where the weight lifting bar is held by the shoulders and neck and a squat-type movement is performed. Squats and dead lifts (where the athlete bends forward and lifts a barbell to a standing position), are the most common weight lifting…read more 
