Each year in the United States, more than 6.6 million people experience the symptoms of a herniated disc in their lower back or neck. If you suspect that you may be among the new crop of people who’ve developed a herniated disc, the team here at Commonwealth Pain and Spine...
When you hear that nearly half of the adults over the age of 65 in the United States have some form of arthritis, you might jump to the conclusion that arthritis is caused by aging. The reality is that the connection between age and arthritis is far more complex and involves both...
Your neck is painful, sore, and stiff, and the discomfort overshadows practically everything you do. Driving is difficult, computer work makes matters worse, and sleep is hard to come by as your neck objects to every position and pillow. While many conditions can lead to neck pain, the team here...
Each day you wake up and wonder whether it will be derailed by a migraine. The toll that chronic migraines can take on your physical and mental wellness and your ability to function professionally and socially can be significant. You’re not alone — the numbers surrounding migraines are nothing short...
Veterans Day is a time to show our thanks to the brave men and women who have served our country. At Commonwealth Pain & Spine, we are taking time to honor our employees who served for the sacrifices they made. Amber Coleman currently works in our Pre-Certification Department in Louisville,...
As we grow older, structures in our body can change, which is certainly true of the discs in your spine. As they succumb to wear and tear, they can lose their shape and irritate nearby nerves, leading to back or neck pain. While there isn’t much that we can do to...
People often think of physical therapy as something only athletes engage in after an injury to help them get back into the game. While that’s true, physical therapy goes far beyond this niche and plays an invaluable role in many other circumstances, from managing arthritis to recovering from a stroke....
Most everyone encounters pain during their lifetimes, but far too many people struggle with chronic pain that can affect every aspect of their lives. Unfortunately, these people often can’t remember a day when they weren’t in pain, and we want to correct this. Since September is National Pain Awareness month...
Each year in the United States, August 8 brings National CBD Day, designed to increase awareness about this hemp-based compound. From pain relief to reducing anxiety, CBD is fast gaining acceptance as an alternative approach to a wide range of medical conditions. Since the primary focus here at Commonwealth Pain and Spine is...
Lower back pain is a common and costly problem that will affect 8 in 10 people in their lifetime. Globally, around 577 million people have lower back pain—including lost wages and productivity, the annual cost of lower back pain in the U.S. exceeds $100 billion and nearly 150 million lost...
Myofascial pain affects about 85% of people at some point in their lives and, thankfully, the problem is short-lived for many. For others, myofascial pain syndrome can set in, which can lead to a great deal of ongoing musculoskeletal discomfort. Whether your myofascial pain is short- or long-term, a technique called dry...
Nearly one-third of the adult population in the United States is overweight, and more than 42% of adults have obesity, which means that more than two-thirds of adults are carrying excess pounds. If you’re included in these numbers, you’re more at risk for developing a wide range of health issues, including lower back pain. The...
A woman’s life is dictated, to a surprising degree, by her reproductive hormones, namely estrogen and progesterone. From the moment you pass through puberty, these hormones rise and fall during your reproductive years before they fall, once and for all, after menopause. During this roller coaster ride, you can be...
If there’s one universal truth, it's that pain is unpleasant. Whether you’re struggling with an acute problem that’s causing a great deal of pain or you’re faced with chronic pain that plagues you on a daily basis, there are steps you can take to minimize the discomfort. Your first step...
A whopping 53 million people over the age of 12 in the United States (which represents nearly 20% of the population) used illegal drugs or misused prescription drugs within the past year. This staggering number is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the slippery slope between...
More than 92 million people in the United States have doctor-diagnosed arthritis or arthritis symptoms, namely joint pain and inflammation. Of this total, a majority of arthritis sufferers have osteoarthritis (OA), which is a degenerative disease that can develop in any of your joints, but tends to target those that...
The frequency of your migraine headaches is at the point where half of each month, or more, is overshadowed by head pain, and you’ve had enough. The team of pain management specialists here at Commonwealth Pain and Spine hears you, and we want to use this month’s blog post to...
Under normal circumstances, your nerves do a great job of alerting you to danger or to a problem, allowing you to take action. There are times, however, when a nerve or nerve group can become hyper irritated and go into overdrive sending pain signals to your brain. To quiet these...
You’re tired of joint pain standing between you and the activities you love, and you want to find relief. You share that misery with more than 92 million Americans living with arthritis or arthritis-like symptoms. If your joint pain stems from osteoarthritis (OA), which affects 32.5 million people in the...
Each year in the United States, 30,000 to 40,000 people undergo an amputation, and nearly 80% of these amputees report problems with phantom limb pain. If you find yourself struggling with pain sensations in an area that’s no longer there, we want you to know that there are solutions that...
You develop a knot in your muscle or you strain a muscle — the odds are that you’re experiencing myofascial pain. In fact, the prevalence of myofascial pain is 85%, which makes it a very common condition. Where myofascial pain becomes more problematic is if you’re experiencing ongoing pain in...
Every month your head pounds before or during your period, or you’re struggling with headaches while trying to breastfeed your newborn. These are just two examples in which women experience hormone-related head pain. When it comes to headaches and migraines, the team here at Commonwealth Pain and Spine has considerable...
Pain management has always been a complex riddle, so when a solution came along that provided immediate relief, medical providers were cautiously optimistic. In the case of opioids, the caution was very much warranted as the risks of taking opioids for pain relief began to reveal themselves. At Commonwealth Pain...
Whether you wake each day to constant pain or your life has become limited because pain strikes with certain movements, you need to find relief. Oral medications don’t seem to be doing the trick and you want a solution that will allow you to move freely. That solution may lie...
You’re in pain and it’s all you can do to put a smile on your face and get through the day. Try as you might, your condition overshadows your physical, mental, and emotional health and you feel lost. We know it may be of little consolation to know that you’re...
One day you’re leading a happy and productive life and, the next, you’re nursing an injury that not only prevents you from earning a living, but limits your personal life, too. To get you back on track, physically and mentally, we offer occupational medicine. The team here at Commonwealth Pain...
Hemp oil isn’t new to health care and has been used for millennia to treat everything from anxiety to arthritis, with great success. Recognizing its potential role in pain management, our team here at Commonwealth Pain & Spine is pleased to offer our own line of broad spectrum CBD (cannabidiol)...
Whether it’s your first experience with sciatica or you’ve struggled with the painful condition before, you know that finding relief from this type of discomfort is a top priority. Thankfully, our team here at Commonwealth Pain & Spine has the same priority, which is why we’re focusing on sciatica here....
When you’re in pain, the mere mention of physical therapy may make you cringe because you assume it means working out. The reality is that physical therapy goes far beyond simply exercising as we turn to the latest advances in biomechanical therapies to get you back to pain-free movement. Our...
There are dramatic examples of the regenerative powers in living organisms — the lizard that can regrow a tail or the octopus a new tentacle. Humans also contain regenerative capabilities, but our resources aren’t as strong, and they can weaken with age. Through regenerative medicine, our goal is to make...
If you consider the role your lower back plays in your life, supporting your upper body and providing you with mobility and range of motion, it's little wonder that this hard-working area is vulnerable to painful problems. And when they strike, your life can be limited in some very significant...
You’ve likely heard throughout your life that your posture is important — whether it was your mother at the dinner table or a friend counseling you to sit up straight for an interview. As musculoskeletal experts, we’re going to add pain management to the long list of reasons why posture...
Surgeons perform 30,000 to 40,000 amputations each year in the United States, and phantom limb pain (PLP) is one of the more common, and frustrating, side effects. While effectively managing pain of an identifiable problem presents certain challenges, PLP is an entirely different matter, since you’re registering symptoms in a...
The prevalence of joint disease in the United States is large and growing larger each year as our population ages. The most recent numbers from the CDC show that more than 54 million have doctor-diagnosed arthritis, and that number is expected to grow to 78 million by 2040. As these...
On a global level, migraines are the third most common illness and the sixth most disabling. Bringing the numbers closer to home, approximately four million people in the United States suffer from chronic migraines — which is defined as having at least 15 migraine days per month. While we can...
Commonwealth Pain and Spine Partners with NeuroFlow to Support Behavioral Health of Patients During COVID-19 and Beyond. May 27, 2020 - Commonwealth Pain and Spine, a leading pain management practice with a dozen locations throughout Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois serving roughly 25,000 patients, announces a partnership with NeuroFlow, a mental...
Most women are familiar with pelvic pain to some degree as menstrual cycles can lead to discomfort in this area each month. But chronic problems with pelvic pain typically signal a much larger issue that may require a higher standard of care, including medications. At Commonwealth Pain and Spine Pain...
The number of people who struggle with back and neck pain across the United States reaches into the millions — in fact, 80% of adults report some experience with lower back pain during the course of their lives. What most of these people share in common is a desire to...
A whopping 54 million adults over the age of 50 in the United States are at risk of breaking a bone due to osteoporosis and low bone density. And many of these breaks can occur along your spine as your vertebrae weaken and collapse. To restore your spine and relieve...
Americans are no strangers to knee pain — in fact, nearly one million people seek knee replacement surgery each year in the United States. But if you’re anxious about surgical measures, there are other options that can bring you relief, such as a genicular nerve block. At Commonwealth Pain &...
Chronic pelvic pain is common but sometimes difficult to discuss with others and complicated to diagnose. Studies estimate that up to 33% of women of childbearing age experience chronic pelvic pain, which is defined as pain associated with the pelvic region that lasts for more than six months. This type...
Being overweight or obese is bad for multiple reasons. It can increase your risk of heart disease, diabetes, stroke, high blood pressure, and more. But there’s another health condition that obesity affects, and you may not even realize it. If you have sciatica, you know that you have a compressed...
You’ve probably heard of a herniated, slipped, or bulging disc. This common issue affects the rubbery discs found in between the bones of your spine. These areas, known as intervertebral discs, cushion the vertebrae in your spine and give it flexibility. But when one of your discs sustains damage, its...
A common misconception about diabetes is that it is a painless condition that presents little to no risks or concerns. Patients who have diabetes often report feeling a tingling sensation in their toes or pain in their feet. Diabetic neuropathy is a common complication associated with diabetes whose symptoms range...
An estimated 20.4% of American adults — that’s 50 million people — suffer from chronic pain. Of those, some 19.6 million suffer from what is called high-impact chronic pain. That means they have persistent pain with substantial restrictions on their activity lasting for six months or more. It’s no wonder...
Approximately 32 million people in the United States report problems with chronic pain and, of that number, anywhere from one quarter to one half report symptoms of depression. Going a step further, 65% of those who have depression complain of physical pain. In a never-ending cycle, your psychological health can...
With 350 million arthritis sufferers worldwide, and about 40 million people here in the United States affected by arthritis, it’s no wonder that pain medication alone is no longer the “cure-all” solution to this joint disease. Today’s arthritis treatments often include dietary changes, alternative therapies, and pain management methods such...
worldwide, about 50% of all working Americans report having back pain at some point each year. For most men and women, it’s a temporary condition that rest and minor treatment can remedy. For some, though, back pain can occur frequently or never go away. Men and women who suffer from...
What is Spinal Stenosis? Spinal stenosis puts pressure on the spinal cord and nerves within the spine. It commonly occurs in the neck and lower back. The condition is often caused by age-related wear and tear. What is Spinal Cord Stimulation (SCS)? Spinal cord stimulation uses a device called a...
Yoga’s extremely beneficial for those who want to be healthier or in better shape overall, both physically and mentally. It’s also a great way to help reduce lower back pain and other types of chronic pain. A quick Google search produces an assortment of tips, guides and methods for using yoga...
The Center for Disease Control or CDC published its latest Guidelines for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain in March of 2016. They help medical professionals prescribe opioids to patients 18 and older. The guidelines are recommendations, not law. What the Guidelines for Prescribing Opioids Focuses On The guidelines focus on prescribing opioids to patients suffering from chronic...
Keeping tabs on your resting heart rate is crucial when it comes to taking certain types of medications, being on certain types of treatments, and with varying health conditions such as MS or heart conditions. By recording your resting heart rate, you can help your healthcare professional determine if a treatment is...
Although back pain may not receive as much attention as more life-threatening diseases such as diabetes and heart disease, it is still nothing to scoff at. Back pain conditions and disorders are the primary cause of disabilities for Americans under 45. The United States spends about $86 billion on treatments...
Though it is not always discussed as frequently in the United States, chronic pain affects more Americans than diabetes, heart disease, and cancer put together. Chronic pain (and back pain in particular) afflicts millions of Americans, who, in turn, spend $86 billion every year to treat it. For example, 20%...
There is hope for patients with chronic neck and back pain; thanks to an innovative procedure. Unfortunately, back pain will affect 80% of all adults at some point in their lives. While most back pain is temporary and lasts only a couple of weeks or months; some people experience chronic...
Chronic body pain can be a major obstacle for anyone to overcome. Conditions such as chronic back pain or neck pain are often burdensome and, at times, debilitating. Everyday tasks such as sitting down, writing with a pen, or even walking can be difficult for those who suffer from chronic...
