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Conditions

Pain conditions we treat

Every guide explains what the condition is, the warning signs that need emergency care, how we confirm the diagnosis, and the treatment options in the order they are usually tried. Each is reviewed by a physician.

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Spine & back

Spine & back conditions

Spine pain

Lower Back Pain

Low back pain is the most common reason adults see a pain specialist, and most episodes settle within six weeks on their own. When pain lasts longer, the source is…

Read the guide →Spine pain

Back Pain

"Back pain" covers everything from a pulled muscle to a compressed nerve, and the right treatment depends on where it is and how it behaves. This page sorts back pain by…

Read the guide →Nerve pain

Sciatica (Lumbar Radiculopathy)

Sciatica is pain that travels from the low back or buttock down the leg, usually below the knee, along the path of a compressed or inflamed spinal nerve root. A…

Read the guide →Spine pain

Herniated Disc (Bulging, Protruded, Extruded or Sequestered Disc)

A herniated disc is a spinal disc whose soft center has pushed through a tear in its outer wall. It matters only when it presses on or inflames a nerve, and even then…

Read the guide →Spine pain

Spinal Stenosis

Spinal stenosis is narrowing of the spinal canal or the openings where nerves exit, usually from decades of disc flattening, joint enlargement and ligament thickening.…

Read the guide →Spine pain

Facet Joint Syndrome (Facet Arthropathy)

The facet joints are the small paired joints at the back of every spinal level, and like any joint they wear and become painful. Facet joint pain is the most common…

Read the guide →Spine pain

Degenerative Disc Disease

Degenerative disc disease is a misleading name for a normal process: spinal discs dry out, flatten and crack with age, and by 60 nearly everyone has it on an MRI. It…

Read the guide →Low back and pelvis

SI Joint Pain (Sacroiliac Joint Dysfunction)

The sacroiliac (SI) joints connect the base of your spine to the pelvis. When one becomes painful, you feel it low and to one side, in the buttock and upper hip,…

Read the guide →Spine and bone health

Spinal Compression Fractures (Vertebral Compression Fractures)

A vertebral compression fracture is a collapse of the front part of one of the bones of the spine. In older adults the cause is almost always osteoporosis, and the…

Read the guide →Pain after spine surgery

Failed Back Surgery Syndrome (Post-Laminectomy Syndrome)

Failed back surgery syndrome, which doctors also call post-laminectomy syndrome, means back or leg pain that continues or returns after spine surgery even though the…

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Neck & head

Neck & head conditions

Spine pain

Neck Pain

Neck pain comes in two broad types: axial pain that stays in the neck, upper back and shoulder blade region, usually from the cervical facet joints or discs, and…

Read the guide →Nerve pain

Cervical Radiculopathy (Pinched Nerve in the Neck)

Cervical radiculopathy is pain, tingling, numbness or weakness that travels from the neck down the arm because a nerve root is being compressed or inflamed where it…

Read the guide →Head and neck pain

Occipital Neuralgia and Cervicogenic Headache

Occipital neuralgia is sharp, shooting or electric pain at the back of the head along the greater or lesser occipital nerves. Cervicogenic headache is head pain that is…

Read the guide →Injury

Whiplash and Auto Accident Injuries

Whiplash is a sprain of the neck caused by the rapid back-and-forth motion of the head in a collision, most often a rear-end crash. Most people recover within weeks to 3…

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Joints

Joints conditions

Joints

Joint Pain: Which Joint, and Where to Start

Joint pain is a symptom, not a diagnosis, and the right care depends on which joint hurts and why. This page sorts the four joints we treat most often, points you to the…

Read the guide →Joints

Knee Pain

Knee pain in adults over 45 is most often osteoarthritis, the gradual wearing of the cartilage that cushions the joint. About 14 million Americans have symptomatic knee…

Read the guide →Joints

Shoulder Pain (Rotator Cuff, Frozen Shoulder and Arthritis)

Shoulder pain has four usual sources: the rotator cuff tendons, a stiff and inflamed joint capsule (frozen shoulder), arthritis of the ball-and-socket joint, and pain…

Read the guide →Joints

Hip Pain: Bursitis, Tendinopathy and Arthritis

Where your hip hurts tells us most of what we need to know. Pain on the outside of the hip, the spot you lie on in bed, is almost always greater trochanteric pain…

Read the guide →Joints

Osteoarthritis (Arthritis of the Knee, Hip, Shoulder and Spine)

Osteoarthritis is the gradual breakdown of the cartilage that cushions a joint, with bone spurs and low-grade inflammation following. It is the most common form of…

Read the guide →Nerve entrapment

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Carpal tunnel syndrome is pressure on the median nerve where it passes through a narrow tunnel at the wrist. It causes numbness and tingling in the thumb, index and…

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Nerve & chronic pain

Nerve & chronic pain conditions

Persistent pain

Chronic Pain

Chronic pain is pain that lasts longer than 3 months, past the time an injury would normally have healed. It affects roughly 1 in 5 U.S. adults, and in about 1 in 12 it…

Read the guide →Nerve pain

Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS / RSD)

Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), once called reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD), is severe, persistent pain in an arm or leg that is out of proportion to the…

Read the guide →Nerve pain

Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy (Painful Diabetic Nerve Pain)

Diabetic peripheral neuropathy is nerve damage caused by years of high blood sugar. It usually starts in the toes and feet as numbness, tingling or burning and slowly…

Read the guide →Nerve pain

Peripheral Neuropathy

Peripheral neuropathy is damage to the nerves outside the brain and spinal cord, most often the long nerves to the feet and hands. Diabetes is the leading cause, but…

Read the guide →Nerve pain

Postherpetic Neuralgia (Pain After Shingles)

Postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) is nerve pain that persists after a shingles rash has healed, usually in the same band of skin. It affects roughly 10 to 18 percent of…

Read the guide →Widespread pain

Fibromyalgia

Fibromyalgia is a condition of widespread pain, fatigue, unrefreshing sleep and trouble concentrating that lasts 3 months or more, caused by a nervous system that…

Read the guide →Nerve pain after amputation

Phantom Limb Pain and Residual Limb Pain

Phantom limb pain is pain felt in the part of a limb that has been amputated. It affects up to 80 percent of people after amputation, usually starting within the first…

Read the guide →Pelvic pain

Tailbone Pain (Coccydynia) and Chronic Pelvic Pain

Coccydynia is pain in the tailbone (coccyx) that is worst when sitting and when rising from a chair, usually after a fall, childbirth or prolonged sitting. Chronic…

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Not sure where to start?

Start with where it hurts.

Most patients arrive with a pattern rather than a diagnosis: pain that travels down a leg, a neck that hurts when they look up, a knee that stopped responding to injections. The first visit organizes that pattern into a working diagnosis before any procedure is discussed.

Back or leg pain

Begin with lower back pain or sciatica.

Neck, arm or head pain

Begin with neck pain or a pinched nerve in the neck.

Joint pain

Begin with the joint pain guide, which routes to knee, shoulder, hip and arthritis pages.

Pain after surgery or nerve pain

Begin with pain after back surgery or neuropathy.

Next step

Not sure which condition fits? Start with an evaluation.

Call (832) 916-2075 or request an appointment online. New patients are welcome; the team confirms insurance and referral requirements before scheduling.

Request appointment Call (832) 916-2075