Chronic back pain can make your life miserable and cause you to rely on pain relievers that further complicate your problems. If your back pain isn't managed properly, you may need to see a chronic pain specialist. There are several treatments that provide back pain relief, but your doctor has to determine the exact cause of your pain and then select an effective treatment. Even if your condition can't be healed, it might be possible to manage your pain with one of the following methods.

Take Physical Therapy

Physical therapy can develop the muscles that support your back. Building strong muscles and improving your posture could help manage your back pain by taking the strain off of your back as you go about your daily activities. Some physical therapy treatments are even used for pain relief, such as a deep heat ultrasound treatment.

Decrease Inflammation

Inflammation contributes to pain, so decreasing inflammation along your spine might result in less pain. Your doctor might prescribe anti-inflammatory drugs taken orally or by injection at the site of your pain. The doctor might also send you to a nutritionist so you can learn what foods to avoid that cause inflammation, and so you can learn about the anti-inflammatory foods and spices to add to your diet to keep inflammation under control.

Disrupt Pain Signals

It might be possible to decrease your pain by blocking pain signals to your brain. This might be done with an electrical stimulation device. Nerve stimulators can even be implanted so they are convenient to use. Radiofrequency treatments might also help. This type of back pain relief treatment delivers radiofrequency waves to the area of pain to damage nerves that send pain signals to your brain. This blocks the pain signals so you feel less pain.

Decompress A Pinched Nerve

If your chronic back pain is caused by a pinched nerve, decompression treatments might help. You might want chiropractic adjustments that relieve pressure against a nerve. You might also have surgery for permanent nerve decompression. A physical therapist or chiropractor might use a computerized table that positions your back in just the right way to open up your spine and decompress the nerve so the nerve can start healing.

Your doctor has to consider whether your pain originates in the muscle or a joint in your spine. Then they have to consider if you need treatments that promote healing or if pain management is the only goal. Your doctor has several methods for treating pain so you can get back pain relief, and you might need to try different approaches, or multiple approaches at the same time, to find something that works for you.