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Back Pain Scapegoat
What is a Back Pain Scapegoat?A scapegoat is something that takes the blame, even though it is innocent. When it comes to back pain, doctors have vilified many conditions that are mostly asymptomatic. These innocent conditions fall into 2 basic categories. The first are conditions that never caused any pain to begin with. The patient complains of suffering and the doctor simply assumes the pain is being caused by the diagnosed condition. This is a classic example of misdiagnosed back pain. The second type of scapegoat condition is one that causes pain and then heals. The patient continues to experience symptoms from some other physical or psychological cause, but the continuation of the symptoms is still blamed on the scapegoat condition.Examples of Back Pain Scapegoat Conditions* Herniated Discs are the #1 scapegoat. Herniated discs are so common that they are almost considered normal. This is especially true as we age. Many people have them and do not even know it. Herniated discs do not always cause pain. Even the problematic discs rarely cause pain for more than a couple of months. Long term pain is the most common abuse of the much maligned discs as a scapegoat condition.* Facet Syndrome is hard to prove and hard to disprove. This makes it another excellent condition on which to blame chronic back pain. At least in this case chronic pain is more likely, since the condition involves actual changes in the spinal bones. However, research has shown that the vast majority of patients with facet joint syndrome have NO SYMPTOMS whatsoever. * Osteoarthritis sounds so frightening, but is rarely to blame for severe spinal pain. Some chronic dull pain is possible, but to blame acute bouts of disabling pain on common spinal arthritis is a true scapegoat situation. * Spinal Stenosis is a common scapegoat condition for elderly back pain patients. Some amount of stenosis is completely normal to experience as we get older. It is rarely responsible for serious ongoing pain conditions. * Spondylolisthesis is not as commonly diagnosed, but is very typical to use as a scapegoat condition. Most patients live for a long time with this condition and never even know that they have it. They get an exam and the condition is discovered. The poor patient suffers a nocebo effect since the doctor fails to tell them that the condition is rarely symptomatic. This makes spondylolisthesis another pawn of the back pain industry. The Irony of Back Pain ScapegoatsThe most common cause of all back pain is a psychosomatic process. However, psychological back pain is ALMOST NEVER blamed as the cause of ANY pain. How can medicine constantly blame conditions that have been proven to rarely be the actual cause of ongoing pain, yet completely ignore the condition that actually causes most cases of chronic back pain? It makes no sense. None.That is unless you factor in the economic motivations of profitable back pain treatments. Hey people, don’t forget we are talking about BIG BUSINESS here. Drug companies pay doctors BILLIONS to prescribe their products. Surgery is BIG BUSINESS. Patients who get better are only part time CUSTOMERS. Patients with chronic conditions return again and again and again… I am not telling you anything you do not already know. Recommendation for a Back Pain ScapegoatDoctors are not evil. They are (mostly) not money hungry soulless individuals. The majority of healthcare workers really want to help their patients. The problem lies in their training and education. Maybe I should rephrase that to read, their LACK of training and education in psychological pain conditions. Some back pain scapegoats are simply misdiagnosed physical problems. In these cases, the doctor is simply inept and should go back to medical school to learn more. The majority of patients suffering with these scapegoat conditions are really victims of psychological pain. Medical training has not prepared doctors to deal with these psychosomatic conditions, so what are their options? They want to help. They want to find a reason for the pain, so they will have a chance to cure it. The pain is real. The patient is suffering. A scapegoat condition exists. It is easy to put the pieces of this puzzle together to see why these back pain scapegoats have become an epidemic problem.
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