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Back Pain Disability
Interviewed patients have described their pain as “agonizing”, “worse than childbirth”, “life altering”, “suicide inducing”, and “above and beyond any pain I thought was even possible”. These quotes give me the chills when I remember the poor patients who were describing how back pain changed their lives. Of course, the effect is doubly strong when I remember the 18 years that I suffered with my own “all consuming” back pain. Back Pain Disability CausesDisability from back pain is rarely the result of a person physically not being able to function. The physical bodies of most patients do not have any nerve or muscle damage that would actually prevent them from getting around.The reason for the disability is FEAR. Fear of the pain from their chronic debilitating back conditions can create true disability. Back pain will scar the soul 1000 times greater than the body. The physical body will heal, often faster than one would anticipate. However, the intense agony caused by back pain will cause the patient to avoid ANYTHING that they feel might contribute to another bout of acute pain. The effect of the pain is really that strong! Back Pain Disability ScenarioA patient has an acute flare up of pain. The pain will eventually subside, but the emotional response to the agony will last forever. The patient is left with feelings of dread, apprehension, and fear. They do not want to endure another episode of this unbelievable pain ever again. Of course the fear and perception of permanent back injury causes a powerful nocebo effect on the patient’s psyche. Long term medical treatment for their “serious back problem” will increase this nocebo effect exponentially.
Eventually, the pain returns and the patient is traumatized again. After months or years worth of recurrent episodes of acute back pain, the patient has built up a sizeable amount of back pain prohibitions. These behaviors will come about due to the perception that a given activity causes pain. If the patient sits and has pain, then sitting will be a no no. If the patient bends and has pain, then bending is off limits. If the patient walks and has pain, then HEY, who needs walking?!?!… All these prohibited behaviors are what create a back pain disability. Before long the patient has a VERY SHORT LIST of activities they can actually do. It is a shame to think of the number of chronic pain patients that lose literally years of their lives suffering in bed ridden agony. It is more of a shame to realize that they actually created the disability themselves. Does this sound mean and unfair? Maybe, but that is certainly not my intention. I have sympathy and empathy for these patients. I just wish they might have chosen a different emotional path towards HEALTH, rather than accepting and embracing sickness. Recommendation for Back Pain DisabilityI know you are in pain. Trust me, I know! Pain might cause you to want to simply lie down and acquiesce to the suffering. This is the worst possible solution! You must not accept defeat. A positive mental state is key to overcoming ANY illness or injury. Restricted activity actually contributes to the pain in the majority of back conditions. Limited activity decreases cellular oxygenation, leading to oxygen deprivation back pain. Restricted activity also cause the muscles to atrophy, heightening the pain due to poor muscular condition.
How do I know that back pain disability can be reversed? I know because I did it. I have seen many others do it. I was at the END of my rope. I was ready to give in and accept a life of progressively limited behaviors. I was a beaten man and back pain was the apparent champion standing above my knocked down body, in the last round of the title fight. The referee was counting 5..6..7..8..9..and suddenly I was up. Next thing I knew, back pain was knocked out! I won this battle, and I beat my back pain. I did what literally dozens of doctors and therapists could not do. I did it…You can too !!!
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