What To Anticipate When Dealing With Low Back Pain

If you suffer from low back pain, you are not alone. At some point in his or her life, ninety percent of Americans will deal with low back pain. Low Back pain represents the 5th most common reason for doctor visits. The direct care cost in the United States each year for back pain is 16 billion dollars! On any given day in the US there are over 6 million people in bed with back pain.

There is some news that is good. Within 6 to 12 weeks, ninety percent of back pain will resolve completely, no matter the treatment. If a person undergoes physical therapy, chiropractic treatment, interventional pain management, muscle relaxers,pain medication, or back bracing the pain resolution may occur faster. And then if the core stabilization and lumbar strengthening exercies are continued it can result in protection from back pain occurring in the future. Research has shown that bed rest over two days is counterproductive and patients should be out of bed ambulating and attempting to be as active as possible for pain relief. With bedrest, pain does not improve any faster and unfortunately the individual becomes deconditioned which can make the pain last longer.

Low back pain turns chronic ten percent of the time. Chronic pain is defined as lasting longer than three months.

About half of patients living with chronic low back pain become disabled and cannot work, unable to carry our normal activities of daily living, and incapable of participating in recreational and leisure activities. This can lead to depression, marital strife, family dysfunction, and drug abuse. If an individual is out of work for over 6 months, there is under a one in two chance that individual will ever return to work. If someone is out of work for over 2 years, it becomes very rare for that person to ever return to the workforce.

Of the patients who develop chronic pain, a minority will decide to undergo surgery for pain relief. There are five hundred thousand spine surgeries performed each year in the United States. As only twenty percent of back surgeries are considered complete successes after two years, surgery should be undertaken with extreme caution.