Catch and release? What happens to people who get low back pain as time passes?
What’s your best action plan for long-term relief from back pain?
Many times people go to doctors for help with their low back pain or neck pain, and they are given some kind of treatment for the pain. Chiropractors often try to follow through with patients to try to prevent future episodes of low back pain with maintenance care. Some patients like to have this proactive approach, some patients don’t.
Some Swedish researchers wanted to see how patients do five years after the patient comes to a doctor’s office. They found that about half of those who went to their MD for care had continuing pain and disability in their low back or neck. They concluded, “since many patientswill have recurrence or continual pain, health policies and clinical decision models for long-term outcome must allow for these aspects.”
It’s not good enough to cover up symptoms of low back pain with pharmaceutical drugs, and wait to see if the pain will go away on its own. While it is fundamental to understand that the body is self-healing, it is unfair to assume that healing will go on with good function. The best way to approach back pain is to facilitate the body’s own healing process with optimal movement. It’s important to put an emphasis on function.
Clinical course in patients seeking primary care for back or neck pain: a prospective 5-year follow-up of outcome and health care consumption. Spine. 2004 Nov 1;29(21):2458-65
Todd Lloyd, DC
Chiropractor in St. George
Chiropractic is a safe, gentle and effective and the best treatment for back pain.