Back pain can slow you down or even stop you in your tracks. The good news is that there are ways to make it better.
November 1, 2025
Is Back Pain Slowing You Down?
As we get older, back pain becomes more common for good reason—your spine and the muscles around it do a lot of work to keep you upright and mobile! Even though back pain is common, there are things you can do to make it more manageable, says MetroHealth pain management physician Maria Grabnar, MD. Here’s what you should know about back pain and available treatment options.
Common Causes of Back Pain
Your spine and back muscles work hard every day to help you stand, walk, and move. Over time, normal age-related spinal degeneration occurs. Here are some common reasons your back might hurt:
- Spinal degeneration. Commonly known as spinal arthritis, the discs, facet joints, and other structures in your spine can develop these degenerative changes. This can cause pain, stiffness, and other symptoms.
- Spinal stenosis. This means the space around your spinal cord and nerves narrows because of the spinal degeneration. It can cause pain in your back and down the lower extremities.
- This happens when spinal stenosis becomes severe enough to where the cord becomes compressed. It may cause back and lower extremity pain, as well as weakness in the legs, balance issues, and bladder or bowel problems.
- Compression fractures. Older adults, especially those with low bone density (a condition known as osteoporosis, if it’s severe enough), are at risk for fractures of the spinal vertebrae. This often can occur simply after a fall in those with low bone density but also can occur even without any injury or fall.
Treatments for Back Pain
MetroHealth’s comprehensive Spine Center offers many ways to help with back pain. Your treatments may include:
- Lifestyle changes. Staying at a healthy body weight and avoiding smoking can help your back feel better and can help slow down the spinal degeneration. Getting consistently good sleep also can help reduce back pain.
- Exercise and physical therapy. Focus on strengthening your core and your back muscles, which work to stabilize the spine, and reduce pain. Often, physical therapy is also recommended, which can be tailored to your specific condition.
- Epidural injections. These injections target the space that surrounds your spinal cord and nerves, and can help with back and lower extremity pain
- Nerve blocks and radiofrequency ablation. This minimally invasive procedure uses numbing medication or heat to stop pain signals from the nerves and can help with back pain.
- Kyphoplasty. For compression fractures where pain doesn’t improve within 4-6 weeks, this minimally invasive procedure can sometimes be performed. It involves injecting a special cement into the fractured vertebrae to stabilize the fracture and result in quick pain relief.
You may be referred to a MetroHealth spine surgeon if these options don’t work, if you have severe pain, or if you have what we call “red flags.” Red flags commonly include weakness, bladder or bowel problems, and difficulty with balance.
For those with compression fractures and low bone density, doctors often recommend adding medication to improve their bone density. “Treating your bone density is the best thing you can do to help prevent another fracture from happening, and it can also help with back pain,” says Dr. Grabnar.
Need Help?
Ready to take the next step? The MetroHealth Spine Center offers expert care to help you move better and feel better. To schedule an appointment, call 216-778-3700 or request an appointment here.
Contributed by: Maria Grabnar, MD / Pain Medicine
