What causes persistent back and neck pain?

Posted on Fri, 14 Mar 2014

Question: I have been having back and neck pain for years. Been to chiro, accupunture, therapy and the last was pain management. Theapry and shots in back. Nothing has helped but my blood pressure has been going very high for last 4 mos.Now my cardio MD has sentme to a neuroglist. He is giving me botox shots in the worse pain spots. My B/P is going up daily to 203/96 and the cardio dr is giving me colindin 3 x daily. Family dr addedl 1 a day Matzim. I've been taking Toprol for years and they want me to take 1 daily.I live in Port XXXXXXX XXXXXXX and I really want to go to Houston because I think they could help me faster and I'm very concerned about the pain, headaches and B/P You can't get I Houston without a referral Please give me some advice.XXXX The neuroglist said I should be 50% better after first botox shots but it would tak a year for100% relief.. He gave me first set of shots 2/14/14. Headaches are not as bad but neck and back are just a little better. I did have a MRI 12/2012. Houston is always advertising a laser surgery for back and neck pain. I need help The neuro. dr did a brain scan but I won't get results until my April appt.

Answered by Dr. Praveen Tayal (5 hours later)

Brief Answer: Surgical treatent may be needed. Detailed Answer: Hello, Thanks for posting your query. The back and neck pain that you are having is likely to be due to degenerative changes in the spine. The Botox injections are a good option that relax the paraspinal muscles thus decreasing the pain and stiffness. The effect is slow to appear. In addition to these regular physiotherapy exercises are necessary to maintain the tone and strength of the muscles. Avoid bending forwards and abnormal neck positions. The surgical treatment may be planned after the MRI scan if the symptoms are gradually worsening. I hope this answers your query. In case you have additional questions or doubts, you can forward them to me, and I shall be glad to help you out. Wishing you good health. Regards. Dr. Praveen Tayal. For future query, you can directly approach me through my profile URL http://bit.ly/Dr-Praveen-Tayal

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar