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Back Pain

Neck and Back Pain (Spine)

LOUDOUN SPORTS THERAPY CENTER specializes in treatment of Spine Conditions including but not limited to:

  • Neck Pain
  • Thoracic Pain
  • Lumbar (low back) Pain
  • Degenerative Disc Disease (cervical, thoracic, lumbar)
  • Herniated Disc (cervical, thoracic, lumbar)
  • Spondylosis, Spondylolysis, Spondylolesthesis
  • Sprains and Strains
  • Radiculapathy (pain down the arm or leg originating from the spine)
  • Myofascial pain
  • All other disorders, conditions, and injuries of the spine

Your spine is the support beam that holds all other joints of the body. There are 24 vertebrae in your spine:

  • 7 in the neck (cervical spine)
  • 12 in the mid back (thoracic spine)
  • 5 in the low back (lumbar spine)

Additionally, your spine includes your sacrum (5 separate vertebrae in childhood) and your coccyx (3-5 vertebrae in childhood). The small bones act not only as the support beam for your body, but also encompass your center of gravity, and most importantly serve as the attachment site for all of the muscles of your trunk. Typically it is not the bones of the spine that cause us problems unless there is a specific injury to them. Most often times it is everything around the vertebrae that lead to problems in our spines.

Between each two vertebrae is a cushion called a vertebral disc. This cushion is like a donut with jelly in the center. Unfortunately, as we age, our discs begin to break down and become more susceptible to injury and wear and tear. Stress to the discs leads to muscle guarding / spasms, pain, swelling, loss of mobility, loss of strength, and possibly symptoms into either leg.

The disc creates space between the two vertebrae allowing for a “nerve root” to exit the spine. Sometimes either the disc or surrounding structures compress on this nerve root resulting in symptoms of pain not only in the spine but also into the leg. This can lead to not only pain, but loss of function of the leg as well as loss of strength in the leg. When this occurs the muscles surrounding your spine become tight and restrict mobility and contribute further to the pain.

Treatment for the spine is centered on reducing muscle tightness and spasm, removing the compression on either the disc or the nerve root, and strengthening the structures that support the spine. All of this will result in decreased pain in the back and leg, improved mobility, increased strength and overall improved function.