Navigating the treatment of back pain and spine-related conditions can be challenging as there are many different types of specialists involved in your care. Fortunately, the overwhelming majority of patients with back pain do not need surgery. But some patients with very specific symptoms and very specific imaging findings may benefit from surgery. You should have an evaluation by a Spine surgeon if…

1. You cannot stand or walk more than 1-2 blocks due to pain, numbness, and/or heaviness in your buttocks and legs; you have to sit down for relief; you rely on a shopping cart at the grocery store. These are symptoms of spinal stenosis, a common, age-related condition that puts pressure on the nerves of your back and legs.

2. You have radiating pain from your back down your thigh and lower leg to your ankle or foot. This is a symptom of a disc herniation or spinal stenosis although commonly referred to as “sciatica”.

3. You have progressive numbness and tingling in your hands and/or feelings of clumsiness in the hands that make it hard to pick up small objects, write, or button a shirt. These are symptoms of spinal cord compression in the cervical spine, known as cervical spondylotic myelopathy. This condition usually gets worse with non-surgical treatment and therefore once diagnosed is treated with early surgery.

4. You have radiating pain and numbness from your neck down your arm to your hand that does not improve with initial NSAIDs and physical therapy. These are symptoms of cervical radiculopathy, commonly referred to as a pinched nerve in the neck.