Back Pain EpidemicWhat exactly is the back pain epidemic? Well, while not contagious in the traditional sense, dorsopathy has grown exponentially in the numbers of affected patients and the scope and diversity of the theorized causative conditions year by year for over 6 decades already. Mind you that nothing new has occurred in the human anatomy to warrant such drastic increases in chronic back pain.However lots of things have changed in the medical system to explain why ongoing back ache has become the most feared and prevalent health crisis in the world today. Want to learn more? All you have to do is keep reading… The back pain epidemic continues to grow year by year. Back pain is the #2 reason why people visit a doctor. Back pain is also the #1 reason why people will stay home from work. 85% of ALL people will suffer some moderate to severe back pain at some point in their lives.
Humans have evolved for countless generations. Our spines are one of the great evolutionary developments. A strong and flexible spine gave us the ability to stand upright. The human spine has continually evolved to make us better at everything we do. Back pain is nothing new. I am sure that our great ancestors occasionally hurt their backs. It is strange that back pain does not make a frequent appearance in ancient medical journals. In fact, chronic back pain really only seems to become a problem by the year 1950. Before then, back ache was not very common, not thought to be significant and was usually quickly resolved. Modern Back Pain EpidemicThe back pain epidemic is a modern event. It seems like millions of years of evolution suddenly went completely wrong. That is simply not the case.The dorsopathy crisis is a contrived event. Of course, no one sat down and said, “Hey, I want to create a back pain epidemic!” This situation is the result of many circumstances all working together to create the problem we have today. The current incidence of dorsopathy in the healthcare sector is nothing more than the latest version of various other epidemic conditions which have occurred throughout history. Back ache is simply currently “in vogue”. You can look back into the medical past and replace back ache with all of the previous installments of chronic and often illogical pain conditions, such as hysteria or rheumatism. What Created the Back Pain Epidemic ?Below are listed some of the many contributing factors to the horrific and ever-growing rates of chronic pain we see in the medical sector today:Spinal MRI has created panic by blaming back pain on a wide range of completely normal and expected spinal conditions. Worse yet, spinal x-rays are used to diagnose pain syndromes which can not be accurately imaged using this technology. Although a fantastic diagnostic tool for purely structural pain syndromes, MRI can contribute to psychogenic pain when images of abnormalities are produced, but these issues are not causative. Iatrogenesis is a multi-faceted contributor to back pain and related disability. Medical diagnosis and treatment can sometimes be the actual cause of symptoms, rather than the cure. Iatrogenic back pain is a very common experience for many chronic pain sufferers. Diabetes back pain is a side effect of this often preventable blood sugar concern. Diabetes is an epidemic unto itself, mostly due to poor lifestyle choices, including a fatty diet and a fundamental lack of exercise. Spinal abnormalities are mistakenly blamed for causing pain when most patients who demonstrate the physical existence of structural changes are completely asymptomatic. Back pain causes continue to be mistakenly identified in the majority of suffering patients. Without an accurate idea of what is actually sourcing pain, a true cure is never going to happen. Psychological back pain has replaced other common expressions of mindbody symptoms. Psychosomatic back ache is always a chronic condition, since the true cause is rarely diagnosed. Treatment agenda. Modern medicine has created a huge juggernaut of long-term and expensive back pain treatments. Medicine has excelled in the diagnosis of literally thousands of different back pain conditions. Medicine has thrived on the ability to treat the symptoms of most of these conditions. Unfortunately, medicine rarely cures any back pain. Symptomatic treatments have created an army of walking wounded. There are simply too many patients in treatment and not enough recovering. Symptomatic care does nothing to solve the underlying causative processes for pain. It merely makes coping with the suffering easier for the patient. This approach to care is considered to be in direct violation of a proper medical education. Nocebo effect. The method of modern diagnosis often creates a negative emotional impact on the patient. The patient is convinced that their spines are defective and suffering from some serious condition. They are overly warned of the consequences of not pursuing treatment. A lack of objectivity is one of the biggest causes of nocebo, since care providers typically WANT to get the patient into profitable treatment. Back injury litigation has joined the list of contributing profitable enterprises. Huge sums of money are generated for doctors and back injury lawyers alike, from lawsuits involving back pain. Who cares if the patient actually recovers after the lawsuit is over, as long as everyone gets paid. Personal injury mills contribute to the pain epidemic by forcing patients into long regimens of treatment and even unnecessary back surgery. Back pain industry often places profit above the best interests of the patient. Medicine has become more of a BUSINESS and less of a CALLING each year. Money first, limiting legal liability second, patient wellbeing last. Back pain research often lacks objectivity and is sometimes performed to support a preconceived treatment program rather than actually study the effectiveness of multiple therapy options. Results are often laid out and even fabricated before the research even begins. Obesity back pain is becoming increasingly more common as the world's population grows in size. I MEAN THE ACTUAL SIZE OF EACH INDIVIDUAL! We are getting fatter and this increase in weight is causing our collective spines a world of pain. Treatment resistant back pain is usually due to a misdiagnosis of the actual cause of the pain. Misdiagnosis can create chronic symptoms from physical or psychological source conditions. The end result is a case of unresolved back pain that might continue indefinitely. Back pain scapegoat conditions are continually blamed for pain and symptoms they do not produce. Many of the most commonly implicated causes for back ache are mostly innocent and asymptomatic spinal conditions. Objective second opinions on the real cause of back pain are increasingly difficult to obtain. Doctors hate to go against their brethren and will support each other sometimes to the point of criminal behavior. Unsuccessful back surgery is a horrible cause of perennial suffering for many patients. Their dream for a cure has instead turned into a nightmare of lasting torment. Back pain specialists have typically devoted their careers to the diagnosis and treatment of pain conditions, rather than working to provide true cures. Some spine specialists care far more about their money than their patients. Back pain diagnostic eclecticism proves that medical science is lost when it comes to the diagnosis and treatment of common dorsopathy conditions. If doctors can’t agree on the source of pain, how can they cure it? Similarity of back pain symptoms versus the diversity of diagnosed conditions. How can so many different pain conditions all have such similar symptoms? Ischemia is one of the prime causes of pain and is often ignored by medical science, despite overwhelming scientific evidence of its occurrence. Complementary medicine has grown at such a huge rate that there are almost as many care providers as there are patients. Is There a Solution to the Back Pain Epidemic ?Can the epidemic be halted and reversed? Yes and no. Do not expect the lawyers to stop fighting for money from back injury litigation. Do not expect the doctors to stop the symptomatic treatment of many back ache conditions.The hope lies in knowledge. If more people were aware of the true causes and symptoms of their back pain, the epidemic would slowly end. Psychological back pain would end. That would take care of about half of the problem right there. If more people knew the facts about their back conditions, they would be less likely to suffer from the nocebo effect. This would offer them a much better chance at finding a cure for their pain. This is THE REASON that I started this website. I want to help. I suffered enough chronic lumbar back pain in my life to understand exactly what you are going through. My constant symptoms were simply out of control. I understand how you feel, both physically (ouch!) and emotionally. It is my most sincere wish to provide you with honest and understandable information to help you become free of back pain. Help stop the back pain epidemic today...
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Back Pain Epidemic to Back Pain 6/25/06 Revised 2/2/12
Sensei Adam Rostocki
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