Back Pain

What truly sets the Princeton Spine and Joint Center apart is uncompromising dedication to the individual. With principles of respect, excellence, integrity and professionalism, we work with you to diagnose your problem, ease your pain, and help you resume your active, pain-free life.

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When Do Epidural Steroid Injections Work for Back Pain?

When Do Epidural Steroid Injections Work for Back Pain? For most people with back pain, surgery is recommended only after all other options have been exhausted. A common nonsurgical approach to pain relief is epidural steroid injections, which help reduce inflammation around your spinal cord and spinal nerves. They are primarily intended for temporary pain relief, but steroid injections coupled with therapeutic exercise may allow patients to postpone or even avoid surgery altogether. Watch: Epidural
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Chiropractic Manipulation – Princeton Spine & Joint Center Podcast #25

 Welcome to Episode #25 of the Princeton Spine and Joint Center Podcast. In this episode Dr. Scott Curtis, Sports Medicine Director at Princeton Spine and Joint Center, sat down with Dr. Jaimee Kukla, a chiropractor practicing in Lawrenceville, New Jersey for over 20 years. Scott and Jaimee discussed chiropractic manipulation, what it’s used for and some of the misconceptions behind it. They also talked about the difference between chiropractic manipulation and physical therapy, and

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Is Piriformis Syndrome the Same Thing as Sciatica?

Is Piriformis Syndrome the Same Thing as Sciatica? If you have ever experienced pain, tingling, and/or numbness along your sciatic nerve, you have likely heard the terms piriformis syndrome and sciatica. While these two terms are sometimes used interchangeably, piriformis syndrome and sciatica are not the same and differ in terms of causes, symptoms, and treatments. The underlying causes are different Both sciatica and piriformis syndrome can cause symptoms in your lower back, buttock, and/or
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How to Make Your Own Gel Ice Pack or Moist Heat Pack

Heat therapy and cold therapy are low-cost yet effective ways to reduce many types of back and neck pain. Here are some easy ways to make reusable heat or cold packs so you can get quick relief. Homemade gel ice packs are easy to make and handy to have around when you need them. Watch: Video: How to Make a Gel Ice Pack Homemade gel ice packs Cold therapy can help reduce swelling, pain and inflammation.
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Should I Use Ice or Heat for My Lower Back Pain?

Topical application of ice or heat therapy can bring a surprising level of pain relief for most types of lower back pain—but each treatment is unique and works better in specific situations. Many lower back problems can lead to painful muscle spasms. Read What Is Your Back Muscle Spasm Telling You? This blog provides tailored insights on when ice and heat therapies may be used, and which option works better in different situations. Range of lower
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Understanding Lower Back Strain

Most episodes of acute lower back pain are caused by damage to your soft tissues, such as the muscles and/or ligaments that support your lumbar spine. Your back is supported by a large, complex group of muscles. Watch: Lower Back Strain Video A common injury is a lower back strain, but it’s popularly referred to as a pulled muscle. The pain resulting from a lower back strain can be surprisingly severe, sending many patients to the
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What Is Your Back Muscle Spasm Telling You?

Muscle spasms in your back can range from a minor discomfort and stiffness to a sharp, severe pain and muscle tightening that prevents normal back movements. Your back might be telling you to avoid a certain activity, or it could be warning of a more serious underlying issue in your spine. A muscle strain can be a source of extraordinary pain. Watch: Lower Back Strain Video Causes of muscle spasm The first step to understanding what
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This Overlooked Pelvis Problem Might Be Causing Your Lower Back Pain

Deep in the back of your pelvis, you have a joint called the sacroiliac (SI) joint, which connects the bottom of your spine to your pelvis on each side. Problems with these joints are associated with up to 30% of lower back pain cases.1 The sacroiliac joint(s) can become a source of pain back and leg pain when there is either too much or too little movement in the joints. Inflammation of the sacroiliac joint
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Getting the Right Massage for Low Back Pain

Massage therapy can provide substantial healing and pain relief for many lower back problems. Specifically, for pain caused by a back strain, when the correct muscle is targeted, the pain can be controlled at its source—for quicker and lasting relief. A skilled massage therapist can provide substantial back pain healing. Read Massage Therapy for Lower Back Pain Two major muscles–the quadratus lumborum1 and the gluteus medius 2– play an important role in stabilizing and supporting your lower back
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5 Ways Motion Causes Low Back Pain

Our spines are remarkable—they're made up of incredibly intricate systems of bones, ligaments, tendons, and muscles that work together to enable movement in all directions. While all of this movement is great, the potential downside is that it can contribute to injuries and wear-and-tear damage over time that may lead to back pain and stiffness. The spine is made up of strong bones, flexible ligaments and tendons, large muscles, and highly sensitive nerves. Watch: Lumbar Spine
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Understanding Different Types of Back Pain

As you may already know through personal experience, back pain can be uniquely complex and difficult to diagnose and treat. There are many types of back pain, and a wide range of treatments that may or may not work for the same condition. Here we outline several insights that you may find helpful in your journey to finding and participating in a treatment approach that works for you. A common cause of pain in the
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How to Recognize and Manage Neuropathic Pain

When you feel pain, it is due to certain chemical and electric signals that are exchanged between the site of injury and the brain. These signals are carried through your nerves. Neuropathic pain occurs when there is an injury or damage to a single nerve or group of nerves.1 Neuropathic pain is caused by malfunction, disease, or injury to the central nervous system or peripheral nervous system. Read All About Neuropathy And Chronic Back Pain Neuropathic

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When Do Epidural Steroid Injections Work for Back Pain?

When Do Epidural Steroid Injections Work for Back Pain? For most people with back pain, surgery is recommended only after all other options have been exhausted. A common nonsurgical approach to pain relief is epidural steroid injections, which help reduce inflammation around your spinal cord and spinal nerves. They are primarily intended for temporary pain relief, but steroid injections coupled with therapeutic exercise may allow patients to postpone or even avoid surgery altogether. Watch: Epidural
Read More

Is Piriformis Syndrome the Same Thing as Sciatica?

Is Piriformis Syndrome the Same Thing as Sciatica? If you have ever experienced pain, tingling, and/or numbness along your sciatic nerve, you have likely heard the terms piriformis syndrome and sciatica. While these two terms are sometimes used interchangeably, piriformis syndrome and sciatica are not the same and differ in terms of causes, symptoms, and treatments. The underlying causes are different Both sciatica and piriformis syndrome can cause symptoms in your lower back, buttock, and/or
Read More

Injections for Neck and Back Pain Relief

Injections are a nonsurgical treatment option for acute or chronic neck or back pain. They are considered to treat spinal pain after other nonsurgical measures such as medications and/or physical therapy have been tried, but before surgery is considered. Injections can provide pain relief and help determine the source of a patient’s pain. Epidural steroid injections deposit medication, typically steroids, in the epidural space of the spine to help control inflammation and pain. Watch: Epidural Steroid
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Understanding Joint Pain

Joint Pain Caused by Arthritis Video Joints are present at every point in the body where two bones come together, and are instrumental in providing flexibility and producing movement in the body. In addition to flexibility, joints are responsible for creating stability and maintaining an appropriate range of motion during certain activities. Because they are the focus of all musculoskeletal movements, joints are prone to pain and stiffness as occurs in arthritis. Different types of

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Chiropractic Manipulation – Princeton Spine & Joint Center Podcast #25

 Welcome to Episode #25 of the Princeton Spine and Joint Center Podcast. In this episode Dr. Scott Curtis, Sports Medicine Director at Princeton Spine and Joint Center, sat down with Dr. Jaimee Kukla, a chiropractor practicing in Lawrenceville, New Jersey for over 20 years. Scott and Jaimee discussed chiropractic manipulation, what it’s used for and some of the misconceptions behind it. They also talked about the difference between chiropractic manipulation and physical therapy, and

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Causes of Pregnancy Back Pain Video

Watch the video Articles Related to this Video: What Causes Back Pain During Pregnancy? Treatments for Low Back Pain During Pregnancy Back Pain in Pregnancy Types of Back Pain in Pregnancy Common Causes of Back Pain in Pregnancy Management of Back Pain in Pregnancy Pregnancy Related Low Back Pain Video Transcript Back pain during pregnancy is quite common – approximately half of all pregnancies are complicated by back pain. In about ten percent of the
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Best Pillows for Neck Pain or Back Pain Video

Watch the video In This Article: Pillow Support and Comfort Best Pillows for Different Sleeping Positions Different Types of Pillows Best Pillows for Neck Pain or Back Pain Video Video Transcript Physicians are often asked by their patients, “Which is the best pillow to use?” And the truth is that there's no one answer that works for everybody; there’s no one pillow that works for everybody. We’ll talk about some of the different pillows and
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Back Spasm Treatment Video

Watch the video In This Article: Causes of Back Muscle Spasms Video Back Spasm Treatment Video The body's response to injury or improper movement is to spasm the surrounding muscles, which forces that area of the body to limit its motion. Back spasms can be significantly painful and debilitating. This video explains the common reasons for the back to spasm and the treatment options available to get the muscle out of spasm and back into a
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Video: What is Lumbago?

Watch the video In This Article: Understanding Low Back Pain (Lumbago) Diagnosing the Cause of Lower Back Pain Axial Back Pain: Most Common Low Back Pain Low Back Pain with Referred Pain Lumbar Radiculopathy Video: What is Lumbago? Video Transcript Lumbago, essentially, comes from Latin and it means, or at least physicians use it to denote pain stemming from the low back. We kind of lump that together and we say lumbago is low back pain
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Video: Common Causes of Thoracic Pain

Watch the video Video Transcript In talking about upper back pain, it’s important to talk about the anatomy of the complaints. So, when people complain about upper back pain, they're usually referring to the thoracic spine. Even though there is a lot of overlap from lower neck symptoms and upper back, as in thoracic spine, most people refer to thoracic spine as upper back. So, we'll talk about the thoracic spine. In the thoracic spine, unlike
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Treatment for Failed Back Surgery Syndrome Video

Watch the video Articles Related to this Video: Failed Back Surgery Syndrome (FBSS): What It Is and How to Avoid Pain after Surgery Scar Tissue and Pain After Back Surgery Video Transcript Failed back surgery syndrome is a term that is used to describe pain that starts or persists after spine surgery. The important thing to remember is that spine, in itself, serves a certain purpose; it solves a number of problems, but, as with
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Medications for Back Pain Video

Watch the video Articles Related to this Video: Medications for Back Pain and Neck Pain Acetaminophen for Back Pain Tramadol for Back Pain Opioid Pain Medications Muscle Relaxants: List of Common Muscle Relaxers Video Transcript Different medications used to control back pain fall into different categories. Now, the broad spectrum of the categories can be broken down initially into the way we take the medication itself. So, oral medications, those that can be used as
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Insomnia and Back Pain Video

Watch the video In This Article: Chronic Pain and Insomnia: Breaking the Cycle Addressing Pain and Medical Problems Disrupting Sleep Practicing Good Sleep Hygiene Psychological Approaches for Insomnia Insomnia and Back Pain Video Video Transcript Insomnia and back pain really go hand in hand. In fact, in a recent study, it has been shown that approximately two-thirds of people suffering from back pain also have disrupted sleep. Now it’s also important to know that studies
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Back Strains and Sprains Video

Watch the video Video Transcript The most common cause of back pain is usually a muscle strain or muscle sprain and most of us, in our lifetime, will experience this at one time or another. These injuries or micro-injuries to the muscles, usually, occur due to strain to those muscles and they tend to recover on their own. The timeframe tends to be several days to 1-2 weeks. Usually to support that, initial rest -
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Video: Why is Exercise Important for Lower Back Pain?

Watch the video Video Transcript Exercise is such an important thing for all of us to be doing for a whole host of reasons. Doing the right kinds of exercises for the lower back as part of an overall exercise routine can be such an important thing. Something that I tell people when they come in and they have lower back pain from a variety of different causes, and they’re concerned that this is going
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Video: What is the Best Mattress for Back Pain?

Watch the video Video Transcript "What's the best mattress that I should be sleeping on? What's the best mattress for me?" While in general we tend to say that a firmer mattress tends to be better for a lot of people, the real answer is that everyone is going to have a better mattress for them - everyone has the best mattress for that person. There's no substitute for going to a store and trying
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Video: If My Back or Joints Hurt, Should I Work Through the Pain?

Watch the video Video Transcript People with spine and joint pain often ask their doctors if they should be working through the pain, if they should be working out, should they be taking it easy. And, in general, the answer is that joints need movements, spines need movement in order to nourish them, in order to keep the muscles around them strong and limber to take the pressure off them so they don't see the
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Treatment for Chronic Lower Back Pain Video

Watch the video Video Transcript A question and a challenge that comes up for anyone who treats spine for long enough is, "How do you treat chronic lower back pain?" Chronic is defined as pain that lasts, in the lower back, that lasts for longer than three months. Here what I'm talking about is chronic lower back pain in the sense of somebody that has been through multiple different treatments - seen a lot of
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Physiatry for Back Pain Video

Watch the video Video Transcript As a physiatrist, or a physical medicine and rehabilitation doctor who sub-specializes in interventional spine and joint pain, I think of our field as, essentially, primary care for musculoskeletal medicine. Our field is ideally suited for aggressively diagnosing and conservatively treating most musculoskeletal medical problems. Depending on the problem, depending on the diagnosis, physiatrists can help to coordinate the entire care from physical therapy, when appropriate, to the modalities that
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Causes of Lower Back Pain Video

Watch the video Video Transcript I am Dr. Grant Cooper from the Princeton Spine and Joint Center. I have been asked to talk to you today about what causes lower back pain. When we talk about lower back pain we have to make an important distinction when we talk about the causes between acute lower back pain and chronic lower back pain. Chronic is anything that lasts for longer than three months. Acute lower back

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What truly sets the Princeton Spine and Joint Center apart is uncompromising dedication to the individual. With principles of respect, excellence, integrity and professionalism, we work with you to diagnose your problem, ease your pain, and help you resume your active, pain-free life.

SCHEDULE APPOINTMENT
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