It has been said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting to get a different result.  This definition could also apply to standard back pain treatment.

If you go to a doctor for the treatment of back pain, chances are good that the doctor will prescribe anti-inflammatory and/or muscle relaxer medication.

Then, if that doesn’t get rid of the pain within a week or two, many doctors will recommend steroid (usually cortisone) shots.

If that doesn’t work within a month or two, the doctor will then likely refer you for surgery. 

This happens over and over again despite the fact that the statistics paint a very gloomy picture for the outcomes of these treatments. 

Medication rarely makes any significant impact on recovery from back pain - the number of back pain sufferers who recover within a couple of weeks is pretty much the same for those who use medication and those who don’t.  Medication may make the pain more tolerable, but it doesn’t help you to recover any faster.

For those patients whose back pain persists past a couple of weeks, there is minimal help from steroid injections.  Steroid injections may alleviate pain short-term (from a few days to a few weeks), but the pain eventually returns in most cases.

Surgery may be the best option in some cases, but it is considerably over-used.  A report issued some years ago by the Agency For Healthcare Policy and Research (a former division of the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services) indicated that the majority of back surgeries performed in the United States were clinically unnecessary.  Overall, the long-term success rate for back surgery is approximately 50%, and many people who undergo surgery are actually worse off after surgery than they were prior to having it.  One of the most consistent factors that predicts a patient’s need for future back surgery is having had prior back surgery!

Despite these dismal results, the same approach to back pain is still applied over and over again. 

Medication - Steroid Injections - Surgery (and often more surgery). 

Insanity!

The vast majority of back pain is caused by musculoskeletal dysfunction and injuries that can be more directly addressed so that they can be corrected and healed.  The problem is, old habits die hard, and doctors get stuck in their old habits as much as anyone else.

If you suffer from back pain, you can’t afford to be complacent and just go along with your doctor’s old treatment habits.  New high-tech treatments like spinal decompression and cold laser therapy combined with low-tech approaches that have been largely ignored by the medical profession, such as spinal manipulation and rehabilitative exercises, can usually provide much better results at a much lower cost. 

If you’re ready to stop doing the same thing over and over again hoping for a better result, give us a call at:

(210) 408-7888.