What’s really causing your pain — and how to fix it without surgery

Brace yourself — your neck pain may not actually be a problem with your neck.

Nearly 1 in 4 US adults suffer from chronic pain, but many refuse to get help because they are afraid they need surgery.

Around 42% are blindly medicating themselves with over-the-counter pain relievers without necessarily knowing the underlying cause of their agony, according to survey data released this week by Orlando Health Spine Center, a spine care program in central Florida.

Dr. Brian Braithwaite, an interventional spine and pain physician at Orlando Health, cautions against guessing your way through your pain. The source of the issue might be in a different location than where the pain is felt.

For example, numbness or tingling in the fingers could be from a pinched nerve in the neck or a nerve trapped in the elbow or wrist. 

If you have hip or knee pain, it may come from those joints, or you could have a pinched nerve in your back that radiates down the leg.

“It is vital that we’re able to distinguish the source of pain in order to provide appropriate treatment options,” Braithwaite told The Post.

Shoulder pain and arm numbness sidelined retired attorney Reeta Brendamour, 66, from teaching yoga and playing golf.

The Villages resident was initially reluctant to go to the doctor because she feared surgery.

She opted instead to take anti-inflammatories and ice and electrically stimulate the sore areas. She even tried self-massage with a hard ball to no avail.

When none of that worked, she found her way to Braithwaite, who diagnosed her with arthritis and degenerative disc disease and pinpointed her neck as the culprit.

She underwent steroid injections to reduce inflammation — her pain and numbness subsided in two days.

“It was a miracle. It truly was a miracle,” Brendamour said in a statement. “I can now do things that I didn’t think I was going to be able to do anymore.”

Knowing the specific cause of a patient’s pain is the first and most important step to getting them on the road to recovery, Braithwaite said.

A thorough exam and imaging such as an MRI or CT scans can help identify the core issue to prevent acute pain from snowballing into a long-term, debilitating condition.

Oftentimes patients don’t need something invasive to feel better — conservative measures might do the trick.

These might include physical therapy, chiropractic care, massage therapy, dry needling, oral medication and topical treatments like cream and hot/cold applications.

“If your pain does not resolve with these conservative measures, the next step would be to consider injection therapy,” Braithwaite said.

“Injection therapy ranges from trigger point injections (injections into painful muscles), joint injections (targeting inflamed joints), epidural steroid therapy (for pinched nerves in the spine) and ablation therapy (using heat to deactivate nerves that transmit arthritic joint pain).” 

If meaningful or long-lasting relief isn’t on the horizon with these options, then patients typically undergo a surgical consultation to determine if an operation is the next step.

Less than 1% of patients at Orlando Health actually receive spine surgery — to the relief of many.