Vail Summit Orthopaedics Blog

Musculoskeletal conditions are among the most disabling and costly medical problems suffered by people in this country. As the U.S. population ages over the next 25 years, the number of people with musculoskeletal problems will increase because these conditions are most common in the older segments of the population.

Here is a look at our final back pain myth... Myth #10: An MRI always gives us the answer for the cause of pain.

We continue our blog series on common back pain myths:

Myth 9: Prolonged bed rest is necessary following an acute episode of lower back pain

Good studies show that putting people with acute back pain on bed rest for no more than three days will produce a good outcome. Beyond three days generally has an adverse effect however. Many back pain episodes take more than a couple of days to get over, particularly with people who have recurrent bouts with back pain.

Watch a video of Dr. Raub discussing common back pain myths by visiting the VSO website at this link: http://www.vsortho.com/#doctors=/dr-scott-raub&community=/10-myths-back-....

One of the myths we frequently encounter is when patients assume surgery will cure their problem. We don’t have a way to replace the anatomy that people had when they were 18 years old.

Most surgeries either ‘remove something’ or ‘put something in you’. ‘Removing it’ might be removing a disc or bone and making room for the nerves. ‘Putting something in you’ might include screws, rods, cages or grafts for a fusion. So we’re not restoring the anatomy.

Myth 8: A cure exists for all spinal pain problems; “I can be fixed!”

One of the myths we frequently encounter is when patients assume surgery will cure their problem. We don’t have a way to replace the anatomy that people had when they were 18 years old.

Most surgeries either ‘remove something’ or ‘put something in you’. ‘Removing it’ might be removing a disc or bone and making room for the nerves. ‘Putting something in you’ might include screws, rods, cages or grafts for a fusion. So we’re not restoring the anatomy.

Here is the next myth in our series on common back pain myths.

Myth 7: All steroids are bad for me

Some people believe that injections are a temporary solution or a band-aid to the real problem. There’s also a concern that there’s an adverse side effect to these medicines or that these are the same medicines used by some professional athletes.

The medication we predominantly utilize is a steroid, but it’s not the same steroid that athletes use for performance enhancement. The steroid we use is for inflammation control. We utilize steroids by being very target-specific, placing the medication under x-ray guidance to the precise point of where the pain generator is.

Vail-Summit Orthopaedics spine specialist Dr. Greg Poulter will join Howard Head Sports Medicine physical therapist Meredith Mueller for a special program on preventing and treating spine injuries. The event is being hosted by Friends of the Vail Valley Medical Center.

It will be held from 12:30pm-2:00pm on Wednesday, September 21 at the Sonnenalp Resort in Vail. Lunch will be served.  

The seminar is a Special Program on Preventing and Treating Spine Injuries hosted by Friends of VVMC. Vail Presenters: Dr. Greg Poulter, Specialist in Advanced Adult & Pediatric Spine Surgery Meredith Mueller, PT, SCS, CWCE from Howard Head Sports Medicine to discuss preventive and restorative exercises. 

RSVP to vvmcdevelopment@vvmc.com or (970) 477-5177.

You are invited to attend a special event on the prevention and treatment of spine injuries. Vail-Summit Orthopaedics spine specialist Dr. Greg Poulter will join Howard Head Sports Medicine physical therapist Meredith Mueller for the program which is being hosted by Friends of the Vail Valley Medical Center. The event will be held from 12:30pm-2:00pm on Wednesday, September 21 at the Sonnenalp Resort in Vail. Lunch will be served. RSVP to vvmcdevelopment@vvmc.com or (970) 477-5177.

Continuing our series on common back pain myths, here is another myth that we commonly hear from our patients:

Myth 6: Spinal injections hurt
We use injections for diagnostic motives as well as therapeutic reasons. A lot of people believe having injections or other types of interventional pain procedures will hurt.
When we do spinal injection procedures or interventional pain procedures, we use local anesthesia; and if the patient wants it, we offer conscious sedation. We don’t put people to sleep for these procedures but we will give them medication that provides a relaxing environment so they don’t feel as much pain or anxiety.

Continuing our discussion of the 10 most common back pain myths, let's take a look at:

Myth 5: You will never have to modify your lifestyle to manage lower back pain

We educate patients about managing their pain by modifying their lifestyle, modifying their activity, and accepting the fact that doing certain things may hurt more than others.

Chronic back pain patients need to know they are going to have some pain, but we can get it to a manageable level. For example, if they ski a lot, they may not be able to ski the bumps like they used to. Or, they may not be able to ski back-to-back days.