Recurring Back Pain Treatment Minneapolis MN
Back to Basics
By Lisa Marshall
We all know the phrases “Oh, my aching back” and “What a pain in the neck.” They’ve been uttered so often over the years, they’ve become ingrained as lighthearted clichés. But for the increasing number of Americans whose chronic spinal problems cause them to lose sleep, miss work, or sacrifice their favorite sports and hobbies, back pain is no joke.
“I had to stop walking. I had to stop using the treadmill at the gym. My wife and I used to love to travel and go on walking tours, and I couldn’t do that anymore,” says Jack Funk, 69, of the omnipresent back ache and debilitating leg spasms he suffered for years. “It really affected my life.”
Studies show that as many as two-thirds of adults will suffer chronic or recurring back pain at some point, making it second only to the cold as the most common reason for visiting a doctor. Back pain accounts for a staggering $75 billion annually in medical expenses, lost productivity, and disability claims and constitutes the No. 1 reason for inactivity in people under age 45. And according to care providers nationwide, its incidence is on the rise.
“It has been growing steadily over the past 30 years. It’s a huge problem,” says Gerald Silverman, DC, author of Your Miraculous Back: A Step-by-Step Guide to Relieving Neck and Back Pain (New Harbinger, 2006).
But despite what many see as a troubling epidemic, there remains a heated debate over just what causes back pain and how to treat it. In more than 85 percent of cases, care providers can find no clear-cut anatomical explanation for the pain, leaving them to speculate about everything from muscle, joint, and disc damage to stress and psychological trauma. When it comes to treatment, back surgery rates continue to soar nationwide, with surgeons in the US performing 40 percent more back operations than in any other developed country. Yet clinicians still argue whether the promise of pain relief outweighs the cost and potential risks associated with surgery (including paralysis and worsening pain), and many of them contend that too many patients turn to drugs or go under the knife before they exhaust other options.
“For chronic low back pain, surgery is seldom a good option,” says Dean Neary, ND, chair of the physical medicine department at Bastyr University, near Seattle. “It may give them some relief, but it often comes at the cost of reducing mobility, which may down the road lead to further complications.”
Faced with the prospect of surgery or prolonged use of pain management drugs, many patients opt for a more holistic approach, making back pain the most frequently stated reason people seek out complementary and alternative therapies.
“To surgically correct something without addressing the underlying cause is missing the boat,” says Neary.
Sitting ducks
So just what underlying causes are driving the soaring rates of back pain in the US? According to many practitioners, our increasingly sedentary lifestyle—centered around l...
Author: Lisa Marchall
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