A spinal cord stimulator is different from many pain treatments because patients can typically try the therapy before deciding whether to move forward with a permanent implanted system. A spinal cord stimulator trial is a temporary test period. Thin stimulation leads are positioned near the spinal cord and connected to an external stimulator. The system […]
Most people think of sciatica as pain that travels from the lower back or buttock into one leg. That is the most common pattern, but symptoms can sometimes affect both sides. Yes, sciatica can affect both legs, although bilateral symptoms are less common than symptoms affecting only one side. Pain, tingling, numbness, burning, or weakness […]
Two people can go through the same injury, procedure, or painful experience and describe it very differently. One person may notice pain almost immediately, while another may tolerate the discomfort for much longer. That difference is often explained using two terms: pain threshold and pain tolerance. They are not the same thing. Pain threshold describes […]
Numbness in one finger, tingling along the outside of the foot, or pain traveling down a leg can seem disconnected from the spine. But those symptoms may follow the path of a specific spinal nerve. Dermatomes help explain why. A dermatome is an area of skin associated with a particular spinal nerve root. Because spinal […]
Sciatica is usually associated with pain that starts in the lower back or buttock and travels down the leg. But some people notice something different: part of the foot feels numb, tingly, heavy, or simply different from the other side. Yes, sciatica can cause foot numbness. The nerves that travel into the foot originate in […]
If an epidural steroid injection gives you meaningful relief, one of the first questions you may have is how soon you can get another one if the pain comes back. Other patients may already have received several injections and want to know whether there is a limit on how many they can have within a […]
Before seeing a pain specialist, it helps to track where your pain is, what it feels like, what makes it better or worse, how long it lasts, and how it affects your daily life. You do not need a perfect pain journal. You do not need pages of notes. Even a few details on your […]
Nerve pain symptoms should not be ignored when they are persistent, getting worse, spreading, or connected to numbness, tingling, weakness, or loss of function. Nerve pain can feel very different from muscle or joint pain. It may feel burning, electric, tingling, sharp, shooting, or numb. Some people describe it as pins and needles. Others feel […]
Chronic neck or back pain can come from several different structures in the spine. In some people, the source is the facet joints, which are small joints located along the back of the spine. A medial branch block is a procedure used to temporarily numb the small medial branch nerves that carry pain signals from […]
SI joint pain and facet joint pain can both cause persistent discomfort in the lower back, but they come from different joints. SI joint pain comes from the sacroiliac joints where the spine meets the pelvis, while facet joint pain comes from the small joints connecting the vertebrae. Because both conditions can cause lower back […]
