Low back pain is not one thing. The joints at the back of the spine, the disc at the front, the sacroiliac joint at the base and the muscles that guard all of them each produce a different pattern, and the treatment that helps one does very little for another.
Facet joints hurt more on extension and first thing in the morning. A disc hurts more on sitting and forward bending. The sacroiliac joint gives one-sided pain low down that people point at with a finger. Working out which is the point of the first appointment.
Prolonged rest slows recovery for almost every kind of low back pain. What helps is movement inside limits that do not flare it, and the limits are specific to whichever structure is involved.
The metro is served from Downtown Denver, Lowry, Central Park, Northglenn off I-25 at 120th, Lakewood, Littleton, Highlands Ranch, Lone Tree, SE Aurora and Southlands.
For low back pain specifically, the drive is part of the problem. Sitting is the single most provocative position for most Denver patients, so a clinic that adds forty minutes in traffic each way works against the treatment. Book the one you can reach without a crawl.
Where a course of care has not shifted it, the next step depends on what the examination identified. For facet joints that means a diagnostic medial branch block, and where the block confirms them, radiofrequency ablation. For a disc pressing a nerve it means an epidural steroid injection. For the sacroiliac joint it means a joint injection.
All of those are performed in office at our Northglenn clinic for the Denver metro. Imaging is ordered where there is weakness, where a reasonable course has not moved it, or where a procedure needs a target confirmed — not as a matter of routine.
Most major commercial plans are accepted and most Medicare Advantage plans are in network in Colorado. Benefits are verified before the first visit.
Back pain that started in a collision is billed to med-pay, to a lien where an attorney is involved, or to your health plan; work injuries go through the carrier. No referral is needed and appointments are usually available within the same week.
A broader account of low back pain is here, with Pain Management in Denver and Chiropractic care in Denver covered separately.
Every clinic below has Chiropractic, Physical Therapy, Acupuncture and Pain Management on one chart, so care can move between them without a new referral.
Downtown out through the north, west, south and east suburbs.
Academy, InterQuest and Tenderfoot cover the north, central and south of the city.
Harmony in Fort Collins and our Greeley clinic serve Larimer and Weld counties.
Across the Valley, from the West Valley through Phoenix to the East Valley.
Keep moving, within limits that do not flare it. Prolonged bed rest slows recovery for most kinds of low back pain.
Not for most people at the start. Imaging is ordered when there is weakness, when symptoms are not improving, or when a procedure needs a target confirmed.
From the pattern. Facet joints hurt more on extension and in the morning, a disc hurts more sitting and bending forward, and the sacroiliac joint gives one-sided pain people point at with a finger.
The one you can reach without a long drive, because sitting is the most provocative position for most people with low back pain.
A diagnostic injection that confirms whether the facet joints are the source. If it does, radiofrequency ablation becomes an option.
In office at our Northglenn clinic, 11990 Grant Street, for the Denver metro.
Medication management is part of what the Pain Management physicians do where it is appropriate, alongside the hands-on care rather than instead of it.
Most major commercial plans are accepted and most Medicare Advantage plans are in network in Colorado. Benefits are checked before you come in.
Mountain View Pain Center treats low back pain across the Denver metro, with Pain Management, Physical Therapy, Chiropractic and Acupuncture in the same clinic and on the same chart.
