Copyright 2006 Robert Gould
So many people suffer from chronic low back pain. Its the number
one reason Americans miss work. Back pain can either come on
slow and get worse, or all at once you wake to find you cant get
out of bed like a lighting strike out of the blue. Either way
its a terrible thing to cope with. When after a few days or a
couple of weeks at tops, most people end up going to the doctor.
Upon going to the doctor, a lot of the people hurting with low
back pain are told by physicians that surgery is needed. This
news alone can be devastating in itself. Back surgery required
recovery time that most people cant afford to take from work.
Back surgery also is very expensive. Not only does it take a to
recover and expensive, its also sometimes not even necessary.
So many people have low back surgery when other alternatives
could have been used. Other methods of dealing with back pain
can be physical therapy, biofeedback, traction, exercise,
steroid injections, and electric stimulation therapy of muscles
and nerves just to name a few. People that rush into back
surgery have found that their back actually hurts worse than it
did before the surgery. Some people also need follow up surgery
either to correct mistakes made in the initial surgery, or
problems in the back that crops up later. Either way this is
also devastating. By this time, the patient has been out of work
so long, that a financial hardship has occurred, medical bills
have piled up, or some people have lost their employment, and
find their back pain is no better or even worse.
People needlessly put themselves in this situation. I blame this
on a couple of things. Physicians are quick to suggest surgery
for the simple reason they do not believe in treating people
with pain medicine. Some physicians are more worried about
writing prescriptions for pain medication, than the pain your
suffering from. This is due to people abusing the system when it
comes to prescription drugs, or the lack of knowledge the
physician sometimes has towards chronic pain sufferers. Either
way the true chronic pain patient suffers tremendously.
When it comes to your back, going under the knife should always
be the last resort. Everything under the sun should be tried,
and tried again before anyone should have surgery. There are a
few exceptions when having back surgery right away is necessary,
but for the most part, other measures and therapy are out their
and should be used. As a low back pain sufferer myself, though
Im not a medical doctor, I would suggest something like this.
First find a doctor who believes treating pain with pain
medication. Combing physical therapy with pain medication can
relieve pain tremendously. Do physical activities such as
stretching, walking, sit-ups if possible, this strengthens the
muscles around the disc taking the pressure off the nerves that
cause such pain. A good program of pain medicine combined with
other pain management tactics can do wonders over a period of
time. A lot of people have found that the pain has actually went
away with this type of therapy.
Worse case scenario, its better to have your back still in tact
with pain, compared to the many complications, the severe pain,
permanent nerve damage, loss of physical mobility, being unable
to work, and even becoming disable due to having low back
surgery. Remember no matter what anyone tells you, its your
back, not theirs. Its easy for someone to tell you what you
should do, but they don't have to walk in your shoes after a
failed back surgery.
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