Treatment area

Spine, Neck & Back Pain Treatment in Chennai

Neck pain, back pain and sciatica — examined properly, treated without surgery wherever that is the right answer.

Call +91 99622 45671 Request an appointment

Dr. Pankaj Hingarh, MBBS, MS (Orthopaedics) T. Nagar, Chennai Digital X-ray on site

Back and neck pain bring more people through an orthopaedic door than any other complaint, and they are also the most over-treated. The overwhelming majority is mechanical: it settles with the right movement and a specific exercise programme, and it never needs a scan, an injection or an operation.

What the first consultation is really for is separating that majority from the small group where something else is happening — nerve compression causing true weakness, cauda equina syndrome, infection, a tumour, or an osteoporotic fracture. Those are found by history and examination, not by scanning everybody, and they change the plan completely.

Chennai’s desk-based workforce arrives with a pattern you can almost set your watch by: cervical spondylosis and postural neck pain after long hours at a screen, often with an ache at the base of the skull and pain referred down one arm. It responds well to targeted strengthening and workstation correction, and badly to rest and a collar.

Treatments

Spine treatments in detail

Each of these has its own page covering what it involves, who it suits and what recovery looks like.

All treatments

Neck & Back Pain

Assessment and non-surgical management of neck pain, back pain and sciatica — with the red flags checked properly.

Orthopaedic Consultation

A thorough first consultation — history, examination, imaging and a written plan you leave with and can act on.

Digital X-ray & Diagnostics

On-site digital X-ray with same-visit interpretation by the surgeon — diagnosis and treatment plan in one appointment.

Physiotherapy & Rehabilitation

Supervised rehabilitation designed around your specific surgery or injury — the part that determines your final result.

Our approach

How the spine is assessed

Red flags excluded first

Bladder or bowel disturbance, saddle numbness, progressive weakness, unexplained weight loss, fever and night pain are asked about specifically. These are the findings that change everything, and they are ruled out before anything else is discussed.

Imaging only where it changes the plan

Scans of entirely pain-free adults routinely show disc bulges. An MRI without a matching clinical picture produces anxiety and unnecessary surgery rather than answers, so it is ordered when the result would actually alter treatment.

Movement rather than bed rest

Prolonged rest makes back pain worse, not better. Treatment is built around early return to activity, specific core and postural strengthening with physiotherapy on site, and pain relief good enough to make both possible.

Posture, workstation and habit

For desk-based patients, screen height, chair support and how often you get up matter more than most of what can be prescribed. This part is worked through in detail, because it is what stops the pain coming back.

Referred on when surgery is genuinely needed

Where there is real surgical pathology — significant nerve compression with weakness, instability, or cauda equina — you are referred promptly to a spine surgeon. Cases that belong elsewhere are not held onto.

Questions

Spine — common questions

Anything not covered here, call +91 99622 45671.

Do I need an MRI for my back pain?

Usually not. Most back pain is mechanical and improves without imaging, and MRI scans of people with no pain at all frequently show disc bulges and degeneration. An MRI is worth doing when there is nerve compression with weakness, when red-flag symptoms are present, or when the result would genuinely change what we do next.

When is back pain an emergency?

Go to a hospital immediately if you develop difficulty passing urine or loss of bladder or bowel control, numbness around the groin or inner thighs, or weakness in both legs. These can indicate cauda equina syndrome, where delay causes permanent damage. Severe back pain after a significant fall, or back pain with fever, also needs same-day assessment.

Can sciatica be treated without surgery?

In most cases, yes. The majority of disc-related sciatica settles over six to twelve weeks with activity modification, a specific exercise programme and adequate pain control. Surgery is considered when there is progressive weakness, when pain remains disabling after a proper trial of non-surgical treatment, or when red flags are present.

Is a slipped disc permanent?

No. A prolapsed disc commonly shrinks over months as the body resorbs the extruded material, and symptoms usually improve well before the scan does. That is exactly why treating the patient rather than the scan report matters.

Does Dr. Hingarh perform spine surgery?

No. Spine problems are assessed and managed non-surgically here — examination, imaging where indicated, injections where appropriate, and structured physiotherapy. Where spine surgery is genuinely indicated you are referred promptly to a spine surgeon rather than kept under treatment that will not help.

Other treatment areas

Appointments

Get seen today — walk in or call ahead

Consultation runs morning and evening, Monday to Saturday, with digital X-ray on site. Most patients leave with a diagnosis and a written plan in a single visit.

+91 99622 45671 Request an appointment

Monday – Saturday

10:00 AM – 12:30 PM

6:00 PM – 9:00 PM

Sunday — Closed (emergency calls attended)

7B, 4B, Thirumurthy Street Parthasarathi Puram, T. Nagar
Chennai 600017