“Get Spine Active!” During Bone & Joint Action Week

National Spine and Pain Centers (NSPC) invites you to join us in celebrating Bone & Joint Action Week this October! We are taking part in an international effort to increase awareness about painful musculoskeletal conditions.

Did you know that musculoskeletal (muscle and bone) conditions are the most common cause of long-term pain and disability worldwide?

If you suffer from back pain, arthritis, traumatic injuries, osteoporosis, or spine deformities, we would like to share some helpful information with you.

We can help treat your painful bone & joint condition. Click here, in order to reach us.

Why Bone & Joint Health is Important – The Facts

• More than half of the adult United States (US) population (age 18-54) is affected by a bone and joint condition.
• US medical costs for treating bone and joint conditions started climbing in 2011, when Baby Boomers (born 1945-1964) started to claim Medicare benefits.
• The costs of treatment and lost wages due to bone and joint diseases in the US was estimated at $874 billion per year, in the period spanning 2009-2011. This equaled 5.73% of the gross domestic product (GDP).
• Children represent 10% of the population with a disabling musculoskeletal condition such as obesity, abnormal spine curving (scoliosis), and vitamin D deficiency.
• According to the National Osteoporosis Foundation, half of all adults over 50 years have osteoporosis. This condition leads to nearly 2 million fractures every year, most occurring in the spine.
• Falls are a common cause of bone and joint pain. The World Health Organization reports that falls are the second leading cause of accidental deaths in people over 65 years of age.

Get Spine Active!

There are five special days set aside during Bone & Joint Action Week:

• Arthritis Day – October 12 
• Spine Day – October 16 
• Trauma Day – October 17 
• Pediatric Bone and Joint Day – October 19 
• Osteoporosis Day – October 20

For more information, click here.

The theme for Action Week this year is “Get Spine Active!”.

It is important that people with neck or back pain remain active. Physical activity helps decrease pain levels by building muscles, improving flexibility, and triggering the release of endorphins (feel-good substances produced by the body). However, staying active does not require strenuous exercise. It can be a light activity such as yoga, tai chi, stretching, or water aerobics.

Seek Help for Your Pain

A pain specialist is an important member of your health-care team. Pain specialists can diagnose your bone and joint pain problem, advise you how to take pain medications, and offer pain-relief treatments.

7 Treatments From a Pain Specialist That Relieve Bone & Joint Pain

1. Epidural steroid injection.  This spinal injection blocks inflammation and nerve pain. It is used for herniated discs, spinal stenosis (narrowed spinal canal), degenerative disc disease (disc wear-and-tear), and sciatica (shooting leg pain). It also helps with pain from fractured ribs or shingles outbreaks.
2. Nerve Blocks.  These injections offer long-lasting relief in a certain body area, along the path of a single nerve. They can treat pain in the face, neck, arm, shoulder, abdomen, pelvis, or leg.
3. Joint Injections.  Placing numbing medicine and steroids directly into a painful joint is useful in people with arthritis or joint injuries.
4. Stem Cell Therapy.  This treatment uses your own stem cells (obtained from a blood draw) to heal a painful area. Due to a shorter recovery period, it can be a good alternative to surgery. It helps people with osteoarthritis, meniscus tears (knee pain), labral tears (hip pain), tendinitis, neck/back pain, and non-healing fractures. For more conditions treated with Stem Cell Therapy, click here.
5. Vertebroplasty and Kyphoplasty. These procedures are used to strengthen backbones in people with fractures due to osteoporosis. Your pain specialist injects bone cement into the damaged backbone, to restore strength to your spine. For more information, click here.
6. Spinal Cord Stimulator.  This therapy uses targeted electrical signals to stop pain messages in the spine. Your pain specialist places a device near your spinal cord, where it remains for years, providing pain relief. Used for pain after a failed back surgery, back/neck pain from disc problems, spinal stenosis.
7. Intrathecal (Pain) Pump.  Your pain specialist places this device in your back where it releases pain medications to your spinal cord, in a safe and controlled manner. It is used for pain from a failed back surgery and body-wide muscle spasms.

If muscle and joint pain are interfering with your busy life, seek treatment for both. Our experienced NSPC pain specialists can help you. Click here to reach us for an appointment.