Watch Your Back:How the Back Pain Industry Is Costing Us More and Giving Us Less

[Investor20]

https://www.amazon.com/Watch-Your-Back-Industry-Less_and/dp/0801453240/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1514944674&sr=8-1&keywords=deyo+back+pain

 

I have not read the whole book but read parts of it.

 

If you check at pubmed, Deyo RA, you get over 50 research publications studying pain including many clinical studies.  So, it is written by a person who knows in depth what works and what does not work. Just to give couple of sentences from the book.

 

"Annual surveys of people with back pain report steadily worse functional limitations over the past decade. Work disability due to back pain has been increasing. And rates of repeat surgery have been going up instead of down."

 

"Over roughly a decade, from 1994 to 2005, there was a 300 percent increase in MRI scans........There was over 100 percent increase in the use of narcotic pain killers....and over a 200 percent increase in spinal fusion surgery...".

 

A must read.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[JayGatsby]

Does it give a why?

[Investor20]

Does it give a why?

 

Yes..Thats why its a must read.

 

I cannot obviously reproduce big portions of the book. But to quote from first chapter "Overtesting and overtreatment turn out to be rampant in the back pain world.  This partly explains why costs are skyrocketing while results are plunging".

 

To me its more than back pain.  If policy makers really want to reduce medical costs, this is something they should read.

[JayGatsby]

Interesting. Thanks. I was curious if the argument was that a) the total amount of back pain is actually the same but we're overtreating it, or b) actual back pain is up for whatever reason (obesity, weightlifting, etc). Sound more like a.

[LC]

I've got a slipped disc from Basketball/weightlifting. Would recommend dr Stuart McGill to anyone with mild/moderate issues. I would say the fact that many people are office workers and live a sedentary lifestyle causes the most damage.

[tede02]

Here's a personal antidote.  A few years when I was 30 or 31, I severely injured by low back from intense exercise.  I was a healthy guy, worked out regularly, etc.  I stopped exercising for a few months trying to heal up.  Meanwhile I was starting to develop sciatica in my left leg.  I tried a few chiropropracters which helped a little.  I also saw a physical therapist perhaps half a dozen times.  She gave me some strechting and exercises to try.  Finally I started feeling the pain and tension in my back subside.  This was after about 6-8 months of nagging low back pain.  I've always liked the P90X workouts (and the follow-up programs).  For a few months I only did the light workouts that emphasized stretchcing such as Yoga and Dynamics in P90X3.  Several months of this basically cured my low back injury. It was all about stretching the muscles and getting rid of the tenision. 

 

However, the most important thing I learned is what caused the injury to begin with was me jumping right into an intense workout as I had throughout my twenties.  I've learned that it is absolutely a necessity that I warm up at this stage in my life to prevent injury.  It has made a world of difference.

 

I'll finish by noting that I've read more and more research suggesting what people natuarally want to do when they have a back injury, rest, is wrong. The best thing is to maintain movement. 

 

https://www.wsj.com/articles/new-help-for-back-pain-1448311243