Back Pain Myths and Facts About Back Problems

Spinal Health Facts vs Back Pain Myths

In order to understand back pain, we must separate the truth from the back pain myths by looking at the facts.  Back pain is the most common disability for people, and it is second in the US only to the common cold as the reason why a person visits a healthcare provider.  Less than one percent of acute lower back pain is caused by a serious condition like a spinal injury, infection, or cancer, and for people under the age of 50, the percentage is even lower.  Let’s look at the common back pain myths and rumors below and see what the facts really are.

Common back pain problems are includes:

• 1. Lumbar Herniated or Bulging Disc
• 2. Spinal Nerve Compression
• 3. Sprain/Strain and/or tendon injury
• 4. Degenerative Disc Disease
• 5. Sacroiliac Joint Dysfunction
• 6. Spinal infections or Tumors (but these are less common)

Common Back Pain Myths about Causes of Back Problems:

1. People with Chronic Back Pain Need Spinal Surgery – There is widespread back pain myths. Most back pain episodes, even chronic pain, is not treated with surgery. Only in the cases of back pain, when other treatments have not worked, should surgery be considered. Remember – spinal surgery is the last resort.
2. People with Severe Back Pain Need Painkillers Narcotics – Stronger narcotic-type pain painkiller medications arouse more pain receptors to turn out to be activated in the brain, making back pain appear worse and causing people to take more addictive medications. Anti-inflammatory pain medications and muscle relaxants are all most people need. Don’t believe back pain myths, ask advice from medical professionals.
3. Another Back Pain Myths are about arthritis. Like low back pain is always caused by arthritis – While studies prove that arthritis is existing in over 90% of patients with the ages 50-55, only 10% experience arthritis-related back pain.
4. If you have back pain and back problems when you’re young, it will get worse with an age – The incidence of back pain is highest between the ages of 35 and 55. After age 55, people usually have less back pain.
5. There is a standard “treatment” for most sources of back and neck pain – Compared to other medical situations, there are quite few approaches to treatment of back pain. Medical professionals from several areas of knowledge (such as physical therapy and rehabilitation, chiropractic, osteopathic medicine and surgery) will often disagree on the diagnosis and most appropriate back problems treatment will also frequently have different opinions.

Don’t believe back pain myths, what you hear!

Most medical professionals be able to develop an effective tactic for back pain treatment based on a detailed medical history and physical examination. Only doctors could provide truthful spine health diagnostic and prescribe the right back pain treatment.

What Causes Back Pain? Spinal Health Facts.

 The vertebral column is a complicated construction of bones, joints, ligaments and muscles. You can sprain ligaments, strain muscles, rupture disks, and irritate joints, all of which can lead to back pain.

While sports traumas or accidents can be a reason of back pain, from time to time the modest movements, like picking up a pencil from the floor can provide painful results. Also, arthritis, poor sitting posture, obesity, and even psychological stress can cause or confuse back pain.

Back pain can also directly outcome from illness of the internal organs, such as kidney stones, kidney infections, blood clots, bone loss or some other.

A source of back pain myths for many people is some experience and the fact that they, or someone they know, may have been helped by a back pain treatment which we are suggesting is not particularly helpful. Similarly, they may have improved after treatment by someone who told them some of these back pain myths were facts.

In many cases most acute spinal injuries recover well, and natural recovery may explain the improvement felt in many cases, especially in cases of acute or recent-onset back pain. In other words, people sometimes seek treatment for their back pain when it is at its worst, and when it is most likely to improve, such that any treatment provided at this stage may appear to be effective.

Also, very common back myths appear, if a back pain treatment worked for someone in the past, it may not have helped them in the way, which was proposed.  Any benefit from spinal manipulation is NOT related to putting anything back in place.

For some people the placebo effect is an important consideration and generate another basis for back pain myths.  The placebo effect is a widely recognized phenomenon where believing that a treatment  will help, actually  helps  outcomes  in  many  conditions.