If you do not carry your wallet in a purse – most likely you carry it in your back pocket.  And for men, this is common place.  But did you know that your wallet can cause lower back pain?  There is even a syndrome for this called “hip pocket syndrome.” 

This spine wellness blog entry, will provide a few tips for carrying your wallet and avoiding lower back pain.

• Thin it out!  Ideally, make your wallet as thin as possible, only carrying necessary items.
• Remove it!  If you are going to be sitting for long periods of time; i.e. at work sitting at your desk, or in a car – remove your wallet from your back pocket. 

A small certain percentage of patients that undergo back surgery / spine surgery; may continue to have chronic back pain and/or lower extremity pain following surgery, that is referred to as failed back syndrome.   This is not an actual syndrome or medical diagnosis – but more a description of the symptoms.  The technical term for this is  post-laminectomy syndrome.

When medical management and other therapies are ineffective, one minimally invasive interventional pain management treatment for patients if they are suffering from both back pain and lower extremity pain is to implant a spinal cord stimulator.  A spinal cord stimulator, also called a neurostimulator uses a tiny programmable generator and electrical leads/ electrodes placed underneath the skin.  The electrodes are placed in the spinal canal, adjacent to the spinal cord.  (Photo courtesy of Medtronic, Inc.)

To learn more, read this recent press release.  This press release profiles a patient who had chronic back and lower extremity pain following back surgery.  Now she enjoys ballroom dancing!

Indiana Spine Group is a center of excellence for the treatment of spinal disorders and abnormalities.  Located in Indianapolis - with offices in Kokomo and Anderson, we provide comprehensive spine care – including interventional pain management treatments, nonsurgical spine treatments, minimally invasive spine procedures, minimally invasive spine surgery and spine surgery.  Treating both adults and children, some common diagnoses that we treat include degenerative disc disease, spinal stenosis, herniated cervical disc, failed back syndrome, osteoporosis and scoliosis. 

Physicians with Indiana Spine Group include:

§          Ken Renkens, MD (neurosurgical spine surgeon)

§           Rick Sasso, MD (spine surgeon)

§           Kevin Macadaeg, MD (minimally invasive spine specialist)

§           Thomas Reilly, MD (spine surgeon)

§          Jonathan Gentile, MD (minimally invasive spine specialist)

§          John Arbuckle, MD (minimally invasive spine specialist