Treatment

Orthopaedic treatment for your spinal pain is normally considered after all other conservative and medical treatment measures have been trialled.

Conservative measures include physiotherapy, chiropractic or osteopathic treatment for at least 6 weeks. Medical management also includes prescribed pain medication from your GP. We would normally recommend that you discuss with your GP if you are in significant pain. Your GP can prescribe routine medication for pain, as well as some other alternatives more specifically for nerve pain, particularly if the prescribed medication isn’t working effectively enough for the symptoms.

Conservative management can also include other forms of treatment, such as maintaining activity levels, getting appropriate advice on the normal timescale for improvement, and talking about how your problem is affecting you and your day to day function.

Occasionally your symptoms may be more local to your spine, such as neck and/or low back pain (without radiating symptoms down a limb). If this is the case, then orthopaedic treatments are unlikely to be able to help your symptoms and are generally not indicated. Your physiotherapist may discuss with you that your symptoms are more suitable for review under the Pain Team.

If after a reasonable amount of time, your symptoms persist, or worsen, it would be worth seeking advice from your physiotherapist about referral onwards for further assessment.

Spinal Orthopaedic treatment would normally, but not always, involve discussion around the following treatments:

• MSK physiotherapy services
• Pain services
• Nerve root blocks
• Spinal surgery