I have back pains constantly. What can I do?

In the present times many people suffer from back pains, since we move our spines and back muscles either too little or incorrectly because of our way of life. In addition there are neck and shoulder pains, neck stiffness, pains in the small of the back, difficulties in bending, lumbago and sciatica.

These symptoms are caused by different mechanisms. Thus painful tenseness of the back muscles, which further intensifies basic bad posture due to pain and compensating for pain, is frequently caused by contortions of the small vertebral joints (e.g. due to clumsy, sudden movements). Back muscles that are too weakly formed as well as osteoporosis (bone atrophy) also come into consideration as initiators of chronic back pains.

ProHealth has developed a diagnosis and preventive medical programme that selectively uncovers the causes of symptoms and initiates specific therapeutic measures.

We perform the following diagnostic examinations:

• Comprehensive preliminary medical consultation with regard to your symptoms
• Magnetic resonance tomography of the entire spinal column
• Osteoporosis diagnosis by means of CT osteodensitometry
• Biomechanical functional analysis of your muscular spinal profile
  - Biomechanical tests
  - Analysis of postural abnormalities
  - Display of your muscular weaknesses

Should pains be caused by weaknesses of your back muscles, we compile a back training programme tailored individually to your muscles in cooperation with our sports therapists.

Our ProHealth Institute has a variety of modern treatment facilities due to its many years' experience in the therapy of back pains.

For instance, with the aid of image-controlled computer-based methods, acute and chronic pain conditions can be treated directly using minimally invasive interventional techniques after exhaustive diagnosis.

The following minimally invasive therapeutic possibilities are used here:

• Periradicular therapy (computer-controlled nerve root treatment) in pains due to a herniated disc.
• Injection treatments of the vertebral joints in pains due to vertebral body blockages.
• Sympathicolysis in neuralgic pain conditions of the legs and arms (e.g. smoker's leg, Sudeck's dystrophy, phantom pains)

Persons with osteoporosis (reduced calcium salt content of the bones) have an increased risk of broken bones. Above all women in the menopause, men above 50, smokers and persons with vitamin deficiency are affected primarily. Here we are pleased to provide advice with regard to preventive measures and possibilities of therapy.