What type of doctor do you see for back pain?

[sbj405]

I have a ppo so no need to go through primary care doc. Is it orthopedics? sports medicine?

[skygazer]

1. Chiropractor personally

Every other kind of doctor I've seen for back pain has either wanted to do surgery on me or given me a handful of pain pills and told me to rest. My chiropractor actually fixes it.

[TheFriendlyAnarchist]

2. I might would have thought a chiropracter.

But I really ave no idea :shrug:

[Katina]

3. it depends on the type of pain.

but before I go to a chiropractor, I would go to an orthopedist and find out the cause of the pain. If it's from herniated disks, going to a chiropractor could cause more damage and pain.

[sbj405]

5. That's my thought. So I guess it's an orthopedist. Thanks.

It's also better b/c my insurance will pay for the xrays and such at an MD, but not chiro.

[Katina]

7. check and see

if your coverage will allow for physical therapy. Therapists also do treatments that can help & insurance does tend to cover them for a short period of time.

[greatauntoftriplets]

4. Start with your primary-care physician.

He/she will suggest a series of X-rays, then perhaps an MRI depending on what the X-rays show. After that, he/she will send you to the proper specialist.

On edit: Back pain isn't always a backbone problem. In some cases, it can also be organic in origin.

[sbj405]

6. I'm a bad patient. I have no primary care doc.

[greatauntoftriplets]

8. The orthopedic doctor I saw for a rotator cuff problem a while back...

would not have allowed me to make an appointment with him without tests taken under my primary-care physician's orders. And I am also in a PPO. Specialists are extremely busy and want preliminary test results. I had both X-rays and an MRI when I saw the orthopedic guy, then his office took new X-rays.

After that, I was given a prescription for physical therapy. Sorry, but there are channels to go through. Find a primary-care guy fast. Kidney problems can cause back pain as well. I am not diagnosing, but you need to be checked out.

[sbj405]

9. Yeah. I was trying to avoid randomly picking a doctor

But apparently that's my only choice or not going. The hassle is why I never go to the doctor. Why isn't there a website that ranks doctors? Friends/coworkers have been useless in recommending someone.

I've actually never had a problem seeing a specialist before.

[SmokingJacket]

11. FOr me it was just a bad chair combined with a pulled muscle.

No drugs or treatment needed -- just a new chair and some time.

Pain never came back.

It's best to start with a generalist, imho.

[MrScorpio]

10. A Backologist

Make sure that you get a backography first

[yellowdogintexas]

12. depending on your ppo, you may not need to see the primary

care doc first. However, an osteopath is a non surgical specialist who is a doctor, not a chiropractor.