Health library resources
Understanding your condition is the first step toward coping better and healing faster. Take advantage of Inova's comprehensive health information library. Explore these articles, from basic to the latest in treatment options, to learn more about spine conditions and the numerous options for treating them.
Back to basics
Understanding Your Back
Without a spine, your body wouldn’t be able to remain upright or to bend, twist, or move with any flexibility.
Chronic Pain: It May Not Be What You Think
Chronic pain, including back pain, can be caused by many illnesses and conditions, including stress or injury, being overweight, improper lifting, pregnancy, and diseases such as fibromyalgia and arthritis.
Getting the Better of Back Pain
Back pain is a common complaint: Nearly everyone will have lower back pain that interferes with work or daily activities at some point in his or her life.
How to Recover From a Back Injury
Back pain is something you don’t want to repeat. Recovering properly from a back injury and taking preventive measures can help you reduce your risk of going through it again.
Lower Back Pain
Detailed information specifically on lower back pain, including causes, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment
What’s a Pinched Nerve?
Back pain may be caused by a pinched nerve. If you have pain, burning, or numbness, call your health care provider.
Seeking help for back pain
Weighing the Risks, Benefits of Back Surgery
The reasons for back surgery typically vary with a patient’s age.
Chiropractic Medicine
Chiropractic medicine is based on the relationship between the alignment of the spine and the function of the body and the belief that the body can heal itself.
Acupuncture
Acupuncture is the practice of puncturing the skin with needles at certain anatomical points in the body to relieve specific symptoms associated with many diseases.
Self-care for back pain
Caring for a Bad Back
Back pain experts say that it’s best to treat your back well day to day. That approach will help prevent episodes of pain in the first place.
Coping with Chronic Pain
Effective pain treatments are available. You can also take steps yourself to ease ongoing discomfort.
Reduce Your Risk for Low Back Pain
Lose weight if you need to, quit smoking, and ease the stress in your life. All these steps can keep your back pain-free.
Massage Therapy
When traditional medicine doesn’t relieve the pain, many people turn to alternative treatments such as massage therapy.
Ice Packs vs. Warm Compresses For Pain
It can sometimes be confusing whether to use heat or cold when treating sore muscles or an injury. Click the link above to find out more.
The nitty-gritty on your neck
About Your Neck
Your neck is a complicated piece of human anatomy. Click on the link above for a closer look at this body part.
Neck Pain and Problems
Neck pain can result from many different causes—injury to muscles, tendons, or ligaments; arthritis; a herniated disc; or a tumor.
Whiplash
Whiplash is an injury caused by the neck bending forcibly forward and then backward, or vice versa. The injury usually involves the muscles, discs, nerves, and tendons in the neck.
Preventing and treating neck pain
What to Do About a Pain in the Neck
Most neck pain is caused by sleeping on a bed that’s too soft, poor posture, stress, neck strains or degenerative joint disease that occurs when the joints of the neck become inflamed or a disc pushes outward from its normal position.
5 Exercises to Prevent an Aching Neck
Although neck pain can be the result of stress, age or injury, it is most often associated with poor posture.
Labor Pains: Reducing Your Desk-Job Ailments
If your job requires you to be sitting for most of the day, sooner or later you may experience pain in your back, neck, shoulder, hands or wrists.
