{"id":55,"date":"2016-04-22T00:10:00","date_gmt":"2016-04-22T00:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/davidchangspine.com\/?p=55"},"modified":"2023-09-19T15:09:32","modified_gmt":"2023-09-19T15:09:32","slug":"spine-pain-care-for-veterans-in-minnesota","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davidchangspine.com\/spine-pain-care-for-veterans-in-minnesota\/","title":{"rendered":"Spine Pain Care For Veterans in Minnesota"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Spine and musculoskeletal back pain is one of the leading causes of disability in America. In fact, the National Center for Health Statistics suggests that one in four adults suffers from chronic back pain, and roughly 90 percent of Americans will deal with problematic back pain at some point in their life. Unfortunately, those numbers can reach even higher for our returning combat veterans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Spine injury or impairment is one of the leading causes of disability among U.S military members, and when you consider the physical burdens they are&nbsp;asked are asked to shoulder, it\u2019s really not all too surprising. Service members are often required to carry 50 pound loads on their backs, all while jumping, crawling, ducking and running. This repeated stress and trauma wears down the joints and the overall health of the spine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some of the more common back injuries suffered by servicemen and veterans includes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Herniated or bulging discs<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Pinched nerve<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Spinal inflammation<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Disc degeneration<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Spinal fractures<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/practice.patientpop.com\/contents\/conditions\/spinal-nerve-conditions-injuries\">Nerve compression<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Spinal arthritis<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Veteran Spine Treatment<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>A recent study published in The Spine Journal took a closer look at just how many servicemembers deal with a back injury during training, combat and when they return home. The review found that there have been 10 times as many long-term spinal pain casualties unrelated to combat injuries among Iraq and Afghanistan veterans compared to&nbsp;blast injuries. The study also found that after being medically evacuated with non-battle-related spinal pain, less than 20 percent of servicemen have a chance of returning to their unit and regular duty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The study also noted that spine pain can have an effect on the mental health of veterans. Whether it\u2019s the rigors of war or the inability to move without pain, estimates suggest that roughly 60 percent of veterans seeking care for their spinal problems are also dealing with serious psychological distress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Caring for veterans with back pain is similar to treating regular patients who come in with&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/practice.patientpop.com\/contents\/neurosurgery\/spinal-disc-replacement\">spinal discomfort<\/a>, but there are a few added areas of focus. In both cases, the first thing a good spine specialist will do is conduct a physical exam and couple it with imaging tests to determine a diagnosis. Then, assuming the injury doesn\u2019t require immediate attention, doctors will likely walk each patient through their non-operative options, which can include physical therapy, pain injections, prescription medications, exercise and diet modifications, etc. After a course for rehab is set, a great doctor will really take time to manage expectations, especially with veterans who are more likely to have gone from very physically-able to their current condition. Walking the veterans through their course of rehab, what they can expect, what hurdles they might encounter and how to manage the emotional and mental side effects of their injury is crucial. There is no sure-fire fix for back pain, and managing expectations can help keep patients in the right mindset while they recover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If conservative treatment fails, surgery may be the best option. Again, this involves walking the patient through all their options, explaining the risks, and covering the expectations during recovery and rehab. This is a path good physicians should travel down with each patient, but it\u2019s even more important when working with veterans or people whose injury was coupled with emotional trauma.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Spine and musculoskeletal back pain is one of the leading causes of disability in America. In fact, the National Center [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidchangspine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidchangspine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidchangspine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidchangspine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidchangspine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/davidchangspine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56,"href":"https:\/\/davidchangspine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55\/revisions\/56"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidchangspine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidchangspine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidchangspine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}