Neurosurgery
Discover how Main Line Health neurosurgeons provide expert care, from routine to complex spinal and nervous system conditions for patients.
Back Pain
What is back pain?
Back pain is one of the most common health problems in adults, though everyone feels it differently. It can feel like stabbing pain, a soreness or an ache. You can get it while lying down, sitting, standing or walking. You may also have stiffness or feel the pain spread down into your legs.
Though it can go away on its own, you should see a doctor if you think you have injured your back or if your pain does not go away for months.
Causes of back pain
Back pain could be caused by problems with the bones, nerves or muscles in your back. Causes can include:
- Muscle tears or strains
- Arthritis
- Spine deformities like scoliosis or lordosis
- Disk degeneration (wearing away of disks that cushion the bones of your spine
- Spondylolisthesis (slipping of disks in the spine)
- Herniated disk (disks pressing on nerves in your spine)
- Spine fractures
How do I prevent back pain?
You can take simple steps to keep your back healthy and pain-free.
- Practice good posture when you sit and stand
- Sleep on your back and side
- Stay at a healthy weight to avoid straining your back
- Strengthen your back, legs and abs with safe exercises
- Avoid wearing high heels or shoes without good support
- If you have to lift a heavy object, bend at your legs, not your back. You should keep your back straight as you lift to avoid injury.
Treatments
Your doctor can help you select the best treatment based on the cause of your pain as well as your lifestyle. Treatments might include: pain medicine pills or injections, hot or cold packs, exercises to stretch and strengthen your back, or surgery
Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery
Non-Surgical Orthopaedic Treatments
Some orthopaedic conditions are first treated with non-surgical procedures followed by surgery as the next step.
Orthopaedic Rehab
As one of the most extensive programs at Bryn Mawr Rehab Hospital, our primary focus is to help patients build strength, mobility and endurance for a variety of orthopaedic conditions.
Physical Therapy
Each inpatient and outpatient physical therapy rehab is individually designed and administered by a licensed physical therapist who consistently guides you from that first visit all the way through recovery.
Spine Surgery
Our spine surgery specialists are academically trained in advanced techniques and perform a high volume of surgeries using the latest technologies.
Orthopaedic Surgery
Pain Management
Our pain management program includes a range of therapeutic techniques, whether you need chronic back pain treatment or relief from pinched nerves. We also draw on integrative medicine approaches to complement traditional pain therapies to give you the safest, most effective results.
Pain Management
Discover how Main Line Health experts serve Philadelphia by treating a wide range of conditions, including back, neck and oncology-related pain.
Sports Medicine
If you’ve had a sports-related injury or have a condition that’s keeping you out of the game, our sports medicine expert physicians and specialists are here to help you get back to doing the things you love.
Work Hardening Program
For people with work-related injuries and chronic pain, we offer a range of therapies through RehabWorks, a worker rehabilitation program that brings together a multidisciplinary team to support people who have lost functional capacity due to a work-related illness or injury.