Muscle Relaxers

Muscle relaxers, or sedatives, are sometimes used to treat back and neck pain. They are usually prescribed for short-term use on acute pain like that which comes from motor vehicle accidents or sports injury. Muscle relaxers actually do not work on the muscles themselves, but on the nervous system, which then causes the muscles to relax.

At The Bonati Institute, we also use muscle relaxers to sedate our surgery patients and help them relax. Because most of our patients suffer from long-term, chronic pain, we usually don’t prescribe them specifically for back pain. Muscle relaxers are useful for enabling movement in people with back conditions so they can participate in physical therapy at our Physical Therapy Center.

Muscle Relaxers Are Only One Way to Reduce Pain

There are many therapies for back and neck pain, including:

• Muscle relaxers and analgesics, which are used to relieve pain temporarily with medicine
• Exercise that helps strengthen the spine and improve range of motion
• Rest to facilitate healing in damaged or wounded tissue
• Hot and cold packs to reduce inflammation
• Surgery to repair or remove damaged bone, discs, and other spinal or neck tissue

If you have been suffering from any kind of moderate-to-severe back pain, and conventional treatments have failed to ease your pain, you might need surgery. At The Bonati Institute, our neurosurgeons and orthopedic surgeons perform arthroscopic surgery that relieves the pain and nerve pressure caused by many spinal conditions, including arthritis, slipped discs, torn ligaments, scoliosis, and spinal stenosis. Contact us today if you would like a list of our references.