subject: Alternative Treatments Of Back Pain [print this page] Like an expensive sports car, the human spine is beautifully designed and maddeningly unreliable. If you're a living, breathing human being, you have probably suffered the agony of back pain. And as long as people continue to lead overweight, sedentary and stressful lives, the number of sufferers is unlikely to go anywhere other than up.
As it does, legions of new back pain sufferers, many desperate and even disabled, will seek relief. When they do, they'll quickly discover just how complicated their problem really is, with its mystifying mix of physical symptoms and psychological underpinnings. The reality is that the agony will often go away on its own - impossible as that may seem when you're writhing on the kitchen floor. But pain is pain, and many want a quick fix - and that means surgery. Spinal-fusion surgery, the most invasive and costly form of therapy (about $42,000), has more than doubled in the US since 1999, to about 350,000 in 2009. Discectomy, which is often done less invasively, has also spiked to 342,000 surgeries per year. But these procedures don't work for everyone. Doctors, worried that too many patients seem willing to go under the knife, are now looking for simpler and more effective ways to treat one of the most vexing problems in medicine.
Furthermore, surgery treatment for back pain is very expensive. However, there are alternative treatments for back pain that is proven to be highly effective and can save you more time and money.
1. Chiropractic care. The most popular non-surgical back therapy is booming, with more or less 60,000 chiropractors practicing in the US today. Some happy clients visit their chiropractors more often than their hair stylists. Experts generally agree that the treatment, which involves the manipulation of the joints and tissues of the spine, is safe for the lower back.
2. Massage. It has an increasing number of proponents, too, and research shows that it can help knead out persistent pain; one study even found that patients took fewer medications during treatment.
3. Acupuncture. It is getting more and more popular these days. Even conventional doctors say that if it makes you feel better, go for it! Acupuncture, which seems to stimulate the release of feel-good endorphins, has a cumulative effect. Most people who undergo acupuncture described it like a lingering euphoria, a nice state whether you've go a lumbar problem or not.
After centuries of agony, humanity could certainly use some relief. But more important than the success of any treatment is the good news that back pain sufferers and the medical establishment are embracing bold new ways to think about the most exquisite and frustrating work of art: the spine.
