Non-Surgical Low Back Pain Relief in Los Angeles
If you have been told your options are another round of physical therapy, another epidural, or a fusion — there is a category of low back pain that sits in between. We find it with ultrasound and treat it with a needle and fluid, not a scalpel: the sacroiliac ligaments, the thoracolumbar fascia, fibrotic muscle, and entrapped nerves.
Before you consider surgery, find out what is actually pulling
Low back pain is the single leading cause of years lived with disability on earth. In 2020 roughly 619 million people had it, and that number is projected to reach 843 million by 2050.1 It is also one of the most over-treated conditions in medicine, which is a strange thing to say about a problem that affects that many people — but the two facts are related. When a diagnosis is imprecise, treatment becomes a sequence of guesses.
The usual sequence goes something like this. X-ray. Physical therapy. MRI. A finding on the MRI — a bulging disc, some arthritis, a bit of stenosis. An epidural steroid injection. Maybe a second one. Then a conversation about fusion.
Here is the uncomfortable part of that pathway. The findings the MRI reports are extremely common in people who feel fine: in a systematic review of 3,110 asymptomatic adults, disc degeneration was present in 37% of pain-free 20-year-olds and 96% of pain-free 80-year-olds.3 Epidural corticosteroid injections do produce immediate pain relief for radiculopathy, but in a 30-trial meta-analysis the effect sizes fell below the threshold for clinical importance and there were no longer-term benefits.5 And when randomized trials of lumbar fusion for discogenic back pain were pooled, the disability difference versus non-operative care was not statistically significant (mean difference −7.39 points on the Oswestry index, 95% CI −20.26 to 5.47).4 The American College of Physicians now recommends that clinicians treat low back pain with non-pharmacologic measures first.2
None of that means surgery is never right. It means the pathway is missing a step — a real diagnosis of the soft tissue. That is the step we do.
At The Fascia Institute and Treatment Center of LA in Beverly Hills, we start with a Fascial Mapping® ultrasound exam to identify which tissue is actually generating your pain, and then treat that specific tissue with Hydrofascia Release™ — ultrasound-guided fascial hydrodissection — and, where a ligament is the problem, dextrose and fascial prolotherapy. No incision, no hardware, no fusion.
Why a normal MRI does not mean nothing is wrong
An MRI is a still photograph taken while you lie perfectly motionless in a tube. It is superb at showing anatomy and nearly blind to behavior — whether tissue layers slide across one another, whether a ligament is lax under load, whether a nerve is tethered to the fascia it should be gliding through. Those are dynamic properties, and they require a dynamic test.
Diagnostic ultrasound is that test. We scan while you contract, relax, bend, and rotate. We press on the tissue while you are awake and tell us whether that is your pain. We compare left to right in twenty seconds. And fascia is not a passive wrapper we are inventing a problem for: it is densely supplied with free nerve endings,26 it can actively stiffen,23 and its layers are supposed to glide.
The four structures below are the ones we find generating low back pain over and over again. All four are effectively invisible on a standard lumbar MRI report. All four can be treated without surgery.
Four generators of low back pain — and what we do to each
Your Fascial Map tells us which of these is driving your pain — often more than one. The treatment follows the finding, not a protocol.
What fascial hydrodissection actually is
It is simpler than it sounds. Fascia is arranged in layers with slippery planes between them. When those planes scar down, the layers stop sliding and start pulling — on each other, on the nerves running through them, and on the muscles they envelop.
Hydrodissection uses fluid to reopen the plane. Under live ultrasound, a thin needle is advanced to the exact interface the map identified, and a volume of solution is injected to separate the stuck layers mechanically — lysing adhesion and re-expanding the space while the neurovascular structures stay intact and visible on screen the whole time.15,19 It is not a cortisone shot. It is not a nerve block. The therapeutic agent is largely the fluid and the plane it opens.
Depending on what the map found, the injectate and the target change:
- Fascial planes and nerves → Hydrofascia Release™. Dextrose-based solutions are generally preferred for perineural work in the current literature.15
- Lax or irritated ligament → dextrose prolotherapy, where the aim is to stimulate the ligament rather than release it.11,12,25
- Tissue that needs a biologic push → ProloBoost Dual PRP.
Dr. Courseault first published fascial hydrodissection for chronic hamstring injury in Current Sports Medicine Reports in 2019,20 and an independent Japanese group — including Carla Stecco, one of the field’s foremost anatomists — has since reported the same approach for persistent post-hamstring-injury pain, with pain scores falling from 10 to 0.86 and no recurrences at follow-up.21 The technique has been applied and published across the body: ulnar nerve,22 calf,21 sciatic nerve,24 and — closest to this page — the lumbodorsal fascia itself.19
For the full procedure walkthrough, see the Hydrofascia Release page, or read how the same reasoning played out in a real case of calf pain that had been misdiagnosed as restless legs.
What is proven, what is promising, and what nobody has tested yet
We would rather you hear this from us than discover it later.
There is no randomized controlled trial of fascial hydrodissection for low back pain. The closest direct evidence is a retrospective study of 103 patients with lumbodorsal fasciitis, in which ultrasound-guided fascial hydrodissection combined with an oral muscle relaxant produced significantly better pain and Oswestry disability scores than medication alone, with no complications in the hydrodissection group.19 That is real, and it is encouraging. It is not a placebo-controlled trial, and we will not pretend it is one.
What is better established is each piece of the reasoning: that the thoracolumbar fascia generates pain,6,7 that it is measurably altered in people with chronic low back pain,8,9 that SI ligament injection outperforms steroid in a randomized trial,11 and that perineural hydrodissection beats control for nerve entrapment in randomized data.15,16
What we do about the uncertainty: we measure. Fascial Mapping produces a numeric score at each point, which means we can re-scan you and see whether the tissue actually changed rather than relying on “I think it’s a bit better.” If the number does not move and your pain does not move, we say so and we change the plan — including referring you to a surgeon when that is the right answer.
A typical case: the desk-bound back
The pattern. Someone in their forties who works at a computer. No accident, no lifting injury, nothing dramatic — the low back simply started aching, then stopped stopping. Worse late in the workday. Worse the day after a long flight or a long meeting. Not disabling enough to stop working, present enough to color everything.
What the workup found. A lumbar MRI reported as mild degenerative changes. That reading is entirely typical and, on its own, almost meaningless: the same findings appear in a large share of people who have no pain at all.3 An epidural steroid injection came next and did nothing lasting — which is also consistent with the pooled trial data, where benefits fall below the threshold for clinical importance and do not persist.5 Physical therapy genuinely helped. Strength improved, function improved, the pain got better. But it never went away, and it came back with load.
What the map found. That last detail — real improvement from strengthening, with a stubborn residual — is the signature we look for. On Fascial Mapping, the finding was not the disc level named on the MRI. It was entrapment of the superior cluneal nerve where it pierces the fascia over the iliac crest, with sonopalpation at that point reproducing the exact pain being described. This is a recognized and under-diagnosed cause of low back pain — reported in 1.6% to 14% of low back pain patients, and a frequent mimic of sciatica because it refers into the leg.17,18
What treatment looked like. Ultrasound-guided release of the entrapped nerve, followed by two Hydrofascia Release™ (HFR-A) treatments to the surrounding fascial planes. Office visits. No incision, no sedation, no time off work.
Where it goes from there. Pain gone at the desk — the setting that had provoked it for years. The exercise program prescribed off the mapping findings continues, because a released plane that never gets loaded tends to stick back down. Metabolic support continues too: lab work and targeted supplementation through FIT GPS, because healing capacity is not only mechanical. In a case that runs this way, the person stays pain-free past the one-year mark on maintenance alone — periodic labs, supplements, and the home program.
Why we show you this one. Not because it is dramatic, but because it is ordinary. There was nothing surgical on the MRI and nothing wrong with the physical therapy. The missing piece was a specific, findable, treatable nerve entrapment that no static image was ever going to show — and that PT could improve around but not resolve. If your story rhymes with this one, read why people get a fascial map.
How care actually proceeds
New to the underlying idea? Start with “What is fascia?” and our Fascia Medicine overview. Pricing is published.
Three people this page is written for
Surgery has been raised and you are not ready
You have a fusion or a decompression on the table and you want to know whether something less permanent could work first. Pooled randomized data on fusion for discogenic back pain did not show a significant disability advantage over non-operative care.4 A soft-tissue diagnosis is a reasonable thing to obtain before an irreversible decision.
Your scans are clean and you still hurt
MRI unremarkable, labs fine, and a decade of being told to stretch more. Fascia, ligament, and nerve tethering are all real, all painful, and all essentially absent from a standard lumbar MRI report. Start with why get a fascial map.
You already had back surgery and it still hurts
Post-surgical scar, altered load, and adhesion around the operative site change how tissue moves — and ultrasound sees metal without artifact, so hardware does not blind the exam. See scar care.
When surgery is the right answer
This page is called “non-surgical” because it describes an option many patients are never offered — not because surgery is wrong. Spine surgeons fix problems we cannot touch, and some people need one.
Get evaluated urgently — emergency department, not our office — if you have any of the following:
- New loss of bowel or bladder control, or numbness in the saddle/groin area
- Progressive weakness in a leg or foot, or a foot that is dropping
- Fever with back pain, or back pain after significant trauma
- Back pain with a history of cancer, unexplained weight loss, or intravenous drug use
- Severe, unrelenting night pain that does not change with position
Structural problems with a clear surgical answer — a large disc herniation compressing a nerve root with progressive neurologic loss, significant instability, severe stenosis with worsening function, tumor, infection, fracture — belong with a surgeon. Part of our job is telling you which category you are in. If the map says the answer is not in the soft tissue, we say so and we refer.
Get a real diagnosis of your low back
Physician-performed ultrasound, a documented map of what is actually restricted, and a non-surgical treatment plan aimed at the specific tissue causing your pain. Five to ten minutes from Century City; patients travel to us from across California and beyond.
Frequently asked questions
Is fascial hydrodissection the same as a cortisone or epidural injection?
No. An epidural steroid injection delivers an anti-inflammatory drug into the space around the spinal nerves. Hydrodissection uses the volume and pressure of fluid to mechanically separate tissue layers that have scarred together, under live ultrasound guidance, at a specific interface identified on your exam.15,19 Different target, different mechanism, and no steroid required.
How many sessions will I need?
It depends entirely on what the map shows and how long it has been there. Ligament work is inherently a series — prolotherapy stimulates repair over weeks, so multiple visits spaced a few weeks apart are typical.11,12 Fascial release of a single adhered plane can sometimes change things in one or two sessions. We will give you an honest estimate after the exam rather than a package quoted before it. See pricing.
Does it hurt, and what is the recovery?
These are office procedures with local anesthesia and a thin needle, done while you are awake and watching the screen. Expect soreness for a few days — prolotherapy in particular is meant to provoke a healing response, so a temporary increase in ache is normal and expected. There is no incision, no sedation, and no hospital stay. Most people drive themselves home.
My pain goes down my leg. Isn’t that a disc?
It might be — and if there is progressive weakness or numbness, that needs a spine evaluation, not this page. But leg pain is not proof of a disc. Superior and middle cluneal nerve entrapment over the iliac crest produces leg symptoms in the large majority of reported cases, which is precisely why it is so often labeled sciatica,17,18 and sciatic entrapment in the deep gluteal space does the same.24 Part of the exam is figuring out which one you have.
I already had a fusion or a laminectomy. Can you still help?
Often, yes — and having hardware does not prevent the exam, because ultrasound produces no metallic artifact, so we can see the tissue right up against the implant. Post-surgical scarring, adhesion, and the load shifted onto the SI joints and thoracolumbar fascia after a fusion are all things we can image and treat. What we cannot do is reverse the surgery or fix a structural problem at the fused level.
Why would my back muscles be “fibrotic” rather than just weak?
Because that is what the tissue studies show. After experimental disc injury the multifidus did not shrink; it accumulated fat and fibrous connective tissue, with the gene expression changes to match.13 Human ultrasound work finds a comparable pattern of remodeling in the multifidus and surrounding fascia.14 Fibrosis and weakness need different treatment — you release the tissue planes, then you load the muscle.
Do you take insurance, and can I come from outside Los Angeles?
Call us at (424) 378-3488 or use the contact page for current insurance and payment details; our pricing is published. Patients travel to our Beverly Hills clinic from around the country, and The Fascia Institute also has a flagship location in New Orleans. Telehealth consultations are available for California-based patients for the parts of care that do not require the ultrasound probe.
References & further reading
- GBD 2021 Low Back Pain Collaborators. Global, regional, and national burden of low back pain, 1990–2020, its attributable risk factors, and projections to 2050. Lancet Rheumatol. 2023;5(6):e316–e329. PMID 37273833
- Qaseem A, Wilt TJ, McLean RM, Forciea MA. Noninvasive treatments for acute, subacute, and chronic low back pain: a clinical practice guideline from the American College of Physicians. Ann Intern Med. 2017;166(7):514–530. PMID 28192789
- Brinjikji W, Luetmer PH, Comstock B, et al. Systematic literature review of imaging features of spinal degeneration in asymptomatic populations. AJNR Am J Neuroradiol. 2015;36(4):811–816. PMID 25430861
- Bydon M, De la Garza-Ramos R, Macki M, et al. Lumbar fusion versus nonoperative management for treatment of discogenic low back pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. J Spinal Disord Tech. 2014;27(5):297–304. PMID 24346052
- Chou R, Hashimoto R, Friedly J, et al. Epidural corticosteroid injections for radiculopathy and spinal stenosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Ann Intern Med. 2015;163(5):373–381. doi:10.7326/M15-0934
- Wilke J, Schleip R, Klingler W, Stecco C. The lumbodorsal fascia as a potential source of low back pain: a narrative review. Biomed Res Int. 2017;2017:5349620. PMID 28584816
- Schilder A, Hoheisel U, Magerl W, Benrath J, Klein T, Treede RD. Sensory findings after stimulation of the thoracolumbar fascia with hypertonic saline suggest its contribution to low back pain. Pain. 2014;155(2):222–231. PMID 24076047
- Langevin HM, Stevens-Tuttle D, Fox JR, et al. Ultrasound evidence of altered lumbar connective tissue structure in human subjects with chronic low back pain. BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2009;10:151. PMID 19958536
- Langevin HM, Fox JR, Koptiuch C, et al. Reduced thoracolumbar fascia shear strain in human chronic low back pain. BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2011;12:203. PMID 21929806
- Cohen SP, Chen Y, Neufeld NJ. Sacroiliac joint pain: a comprehensive review of epidemiology, diagnosis and treatment. Expert Rev Neurother. 2013;13(1):99–116. PMID 23253394
- Kim WM, Lee HG, Jeong CW, Kim CM, Yoon MH. A randomized controlled trial of intra-articular prolotherapy versus steroid injection for sacroiliac joint pain. J Altern Complement Med. 2010;16(12):1285–1290. PMID 21138388
- Cusi M, Saunders J, Hungerford B, Wisbey-Roth T, Lucas P, Wilson S. The use of prolotherapy in the sacroiliac joint. Br J Sports Med. 2010;44(2):100–104. PMID 18400878 (prospective descriptive series, no control group)
- Hodges PW, James G, Blomster L, et al. Multifidus muscle changes after back injury are characterized by structural remodeling of muscle, adipose and connective tissue, but not muscle atrophy: molecular and morphological evidence. Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 2015;40(14):1057–1071. PMID 25943090 (animal model)
- Larivière C, Gagnon DH, Preuss R, et al. Structural remodelling of the lumbar multifidus, thoracolumbar fascia and lateral abdominal wall perimuscular connective tissues: a cross-sectional and comparative ultrasound study. Musculoskelet Sci Pract. 2021. PMID 33218526
- Lam KHS, Hung CY, Chiang YP, et al. Ultrasound-guided nerve hydrodissection for pain management: rationale, methods, current literature, and theoretical mechanisms. J Pain Res. 2020;13:1957–1968. PMID 32801851
- Wu YT, Chen SR, Li TY, et al. Nerve hydrodissection for carpal tunnel syndrome: a prospective, randomized, double-blind, controlled trial. Mayo Clin Proc. 2017;92(8):1179–1189. PMID 28778254
- Isu T, Kim K, Morimoto D, Iwamoto N. Superior and middle cluneal nerve entrapment as a cause of low back pain. Neurospine. 2018;15(1):25–32. PMID 29656623
- Kuniya H, Aota Y, Kawai T, Kaneko K, Konno T, Saito T. Prospective study of superior cluneal nerve disorder as a potential cause of low back pain and leg symptoms. J Orthop Surg Res. 2014;9:139. PMID 25551470
- Ultrasound-guided fascial hydrodissection with eperisone: a retrospective study on efficacy and safety in lumbodorsal fasciitis treatment. Med Sci Monit. 2024;30:e945874. PMID 39482828 (retrospective, not randomized)
- Courseault J, Kessler E, Moran A, Labbe A. Fascial hydrodissection for chronic hamstring injury. Curr Sports Med Rep. 2019;18(11):416–420. PMID 31702723
- Shiwaku K, Otsubo H, Suzuki D, et al. Ultrasound-guided fascial hydrorelease for persistent pain after hamstring injury. J Funct Morphol Kinesiol. 2025;10(3):318. PMC12371940
- Gerard NO 3rd, Mortell TM, Kingry C, Couture C, Courseault J. Hydrodissection of an ulnar nerve fascial adhesion in a baseball pitcher. JSES Rev Rep Tech. 2023;3(2):252–255. PMID 37588433
- Schleip R, Gabbiani G, Wilke J, et al. Fascia is able to actively contract and may thereby influence musculoskeletal dynamics: a histochemical and mechanographic investigation. Front Physiol. 2019;10:336. PMID 31001134
- Ultrasound-guided sciatic nerve hydrodissection can improve the clinical outcomes of patients with deep gluteal syndrome: a case-series study. Diagnostics (Basel). 2024;14(7):757. PMC11011499
- Hauser RA, Lackner JB, Steilen-Matias D, Harris DK. A systematic review of dextrose prolotherapy for chronic musculoskeletal pain. Clin Med Insights Arthritis Musculoskelet Disord. 2016;9:139–159. PMID 27429562
- Suarez-Rodriguez V, Fede C, Pirri C, et al. Fascial innervation: a systematic review of the literature. Int J Mol Sci. 2022;23(10):5674. PMID 35628484
Fascial hydrodissection was developed and refined at our New Orleans flagship, The Fascia Institute and Treatment Center — see their explainer on what a fascial hydrodissection is and their soft-tissue injury treatment page. Learn more about our founder and physician, Dr. Jacques Courseault, MD, or read his Los Angeles page. Athletes: our hamstring hydrodissection and baseball soft-tissue pages cover the same technique applied elsewhere in the kinetic chain.
Chronic low back and SI pain that keeps coming back — especially with loose joints elsewhere, poor healing, or pain “everywhere” — is a very common presentation of hypermobility. Our dedicated Hypermobility & Ehlers-Danlos Clinic and its EDS blog go deeper, and in Los Angeles we run a dedicated hypermobility and EDS protocol.



