Pain in your back or neck doesn’t just affect you – it affects everyone around you and your entire outlook on life. It’s hard to be active, almost impossible to get comfortable, and even harder to engage in the everyday activities most people take for granted.
Your spinal cord is comprised of a bundle of nerves that carry messages back and forth from your brain to your muscles and other soft tissues. A stack of backbones called vertebrae surrounds these nerves to protect them. When injury or disease occurs, surgery is sometimes necessary.
Before surgery is ever recommended, however, Dr. Cochrane will have exhausted all available nonsurgical options.
People often think they just have to learn to live with spine pain or are afraid they will have to have major surgery in order to relieve the pain. Over the last few years, however, there have been numerous advancements in technology that make spine surgery much less invasive than ever. Dr. Cochrane uses these advanced treatment options whenever possible to alleviate your pain and get you back to living life as quickly as possible.
One in six Australians have spine problems
Percentage of people with back pain who say it interferes with their daily activities
Back pain accounts for more than 4 percent of Australia's total disease burden
Men aged 55 – 64 are the most likely to have back pain, compared to 26 percent of women the same age.