Get the Lowdown on Lower Back Pain

by Ambrose Hutson

Chronic, nagging lower back pain causes lost hours at work, brings about sleepless nights, and even creates disability for four out of every five adults in America. Chances are, you’ve experienced or will experience lower back pain during your lifetime.

Chronic lower back pain often begins as the result of a back injury such as a strained muscle, sprained ligament or herniated disc. One would expect that the pain vanishes when the initial damage has been repaired. Surprisingly, health experts have found that such injuries can sometimes trigger an alteration in nerve cells that transmit signals. The resulting pain or hypersensitivity persists long after the initial trauma has been healed.

When this occurs, the chronic lower back pain transforms into a disease that is much more than a symptom of underlying spinal damage. Hypersensitivity can continue to create bouts of pain, even when there is no havoc that factored the twinge. For this reason, it’s important for people who have suffered lower back trauma to maintain an ongoing rehabilitation program, to avoid any future painful episodes.

Patients seeking effective, non-surgical treatment methods may find relief with PNT, or percutaneous neuromodulation therapy. This treatment is performed with the application of electrical stimulation to the deep tissues in the posterior portion of the body.

This new procedure for relieving chronic lower back pain has recently received an FDA clearance. It is a minimally invasive procedure that is performed in a regular medical clinic.

There are particular requirements for those hoping to take advantage of PNT treatments:

* You must be at risk of suffering from long-term, intractable pain.

* Do you suffer with an ache that radiates from your lower back into your buttocks, legs and feet?

* You should not be taking ample pain-relief medications, including physical therapy or chiropractic manipulation.

* Desire a less insidious approach before resorting into a surgical operation.

A doctor performing PNT will utilize several needle electrodes. These electrodes are designed to reach nerve pathways that may be impacting the pain. Specialists believe that this kind of charged stimulation can help to restrain the central nervous system that is relentlessly ushering in the pain.

Typical PNT sessions last about thirty minutes. With the patient is comfortable in a face down position on the examination table, up to ten PNT electrodes are applied to specific locations on the lower buttock area. Each is deployed with a fine-gauge filament to a depth of three centimeters. With the electrodes in place, the doctor can adjust the stimulation to a rate that distributes the greatest therapeutic benefits to the patient.

If you undergo PNT as a treatment for lower back pain, you must complete three or four sessions before evaluating the effectiveness of the procedure. While some patients experience a certain level of relief after a single PNT session, others require subsequent sessions. No two patients are the same, and the suitable frequency of PNT can vary.

Following the application PNT treatment, some patients report overall feeling of wellness, including increased physical activity, a better quality of sleep, improved pain control, reduced levels of disability and a lessened need for pain medications.

Suffering with lower back pain should not make you a slave to the condition. There are effective treatment options available, including PNT sessions, which can provide the relief you need to get back on your feet.

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