Pain that never goes away completely can undermine your quality of life. It can prevent you from particiapting in activities that bring you pleasure and security. The medications that we use to deal with the pain, while being life-savers in terms of providing relief from the suffering, expose us to potential harm.

July 8, 2009 - 4:53pm — Posted by Dr. Norman Marcus

Muscles are thought to be the cause of low back and other common pain problems by some clinicians. Myofascial pain (syndrome), which actually means pain that originates in the muscles and connective tissue (i.e. tendons, ligaments and fascia) is the diagnosis that is frequently used and it is often considered to be the same as trigger point pain. Trigger points are small nodules or knots in the muscle that when pressed produce pain locally and often at a distant area, i.e. a trigger point in the trapezius muscle may radiate pain to the upper arm.

May 29, 2009 - 2:39pm — Posted by Dr. Norman Marcus

With severe back pain we frequently worry about having a herniated disc.  If you have back pain and get an MRI chances are you'll find something. At NY Hospital/Weill-Cornell, 90% of the MRIs of the low back are read as abnormal. But most back pain is diagnosed as "Idiopathic /Non-specific", referring to sprains and strains of soft tissue such as muscle.

May 3, 2009 - 3:07pm — Posted by Dr. Norman Marcus