Chronic back pain management can be worse than the actual symptoms themselves for many patients. The cycle of chronic back pain is surely a roller-coaster of physical and emotional ups and downs. The majority of patients with long-term pain continue to deteriorate in a slow downward spiral until they either become partially disabled by the causative condition or the final drastic treatment options. Millions of lives are disrupted by the burden of unresolved back pain every year. Worse still, many patients are negatively affected by their pain management efforts.
This essay explores the management practices used to help patients cope with unresponsive lasting pain conditions.
Chronic Back Pain Management Industry
Chronic pain has become big business in healthcare. While it ruins some lives, it makes other people very rich. The vast majority of patients undergoing pain management treatment will be offered various pharmaceutical products which always feature both known and unknown risk factors associated with their usage. While these warnings may be included in small print found somewhere in the product literature, the very real risks of taking these drugs are rarely adequately discussed by the prescribing physicians.
Therefore, patients who do use drug therapies for back pain, particularly over an expanse of time, are strongly cautioned to research the alternative methods which are available to them and be sure to discuss using only the least risky options with their doctors.
Chronic Back Pain Management Cycle
Most patients with pain go to their doctor hoping to find a quick and permanent cure for their symptoms. Chronic pain is a syndrome that scoffs at this naive idea. Long lasting pain syndromes are notorious for resisting all attempts at treatment from a variety of methods and providers.
Patients become emotionally frustrated over their treatment-resistant pain and become increasingly fearful that they will never be well again. The nocebo effect imparted by continuous suffering is so severe that most patients experience ever-worsening symptoms as their mind accepts the idea that they are truly damaged beyond repair. Once again, a vicious cycle of pain ensues.
Managing Chronic Back Pain
Chronic pain can be greatly misunderstood by both patients and their doctors alike. Most physical pain syndromes respond well to traditional or alternative medical treatments and heal within the normally defined time period. Ongoing stubborn pain is often created by one of three possible causes:
Patient has a terrible back injury and may have significant structural issues in their spine which will not heal. Patient may have already healed, but is now suffering from the lingering effects of a prior surgical procedure. Sometimes, the treatment for back ache can leave permanent symptoms far worse than the original condition it was designed to resolve. Just remember, that many perceived injuries are nothing more than trigger mechanisms for mindbody conditions to commence.
The patient receives a diagnosis of some degenerative condition in their spine. In rare cases, this condition may explain the chronic pain. However, the vast majority of spinal deterioration pronounced as causative is actually normal and expected for an adult human. This has been proven in many research studies and many major medical groups now warn doctors not to diagnose spinal irregularities as being the source of pain unless proven beyond all doubt. Remember, in many cases, the degenerative issue may be nothing more than a scapegoat condition causing symptoms through the nocebo effect of the diagnosis. Patients may be scared for their future and develop increasingly powerful symptoms as a direct result of the diagnosis.
Patient has psychosomatic pain that happens to reside in the back. This condition is rarely identified as being caused by a psychological process and most commonly results in the pain being blamed on some innocent structural condition, as in the above example.
Chronic Back Pain Management Modalities
Treatment options for chronic pain usually follow a set progression. Conservative medical and complementary methods are usually the first to be employed. Physical therapy, exercise and mild pharmaceutical relief are the first choices of many doctors and patients. If the pain continues, new methods of pain management are added. Chiropractic, massage, epidural injections and more powerful drugs are the most common of these moderate treatments. At this point, the patient realizes that their pain is not improving. This normally results in an ever widening quest for anything which might bring some semblance of relief.
The patient uses up valuable time and money searching for a cure for a diagnosed condition that is sometimes not even the actual source of their pain. Of course, these misdirected treatments do little or nothing to help the symptoms and the patient becomes desperate for a cure. This is the most dangerous time for the patient, since they are prone to acquiesce to some drastic treatment, such as back surgery.
Many patients proceed with surgical correction of their innocent spinal abnormalities. Being that the pain is not actually resulting from this now corrected source, the symptoms continue and often worsen. This common occurrence is known as failed back surgery syndrome and is all too common among patients with chronic pain.
All this suffering could have been avoided if the doctor could simply identify the real underlying structural or nonstructural source of continuing symptoms.
Managing or Curing Chronic Back Pain
The body will heal if it is wounded or injured in 99% of cases. Long-term back ache defies this statistic and accounts for hundreds of millions of incapacitated patients suffering needlessly worldwide. The reality of many chronic pain syndromes is that they are rarely due to a purely physical cause. Most ongoing pain conditions have a psychoemotional component in the causation, perpetuation or escalation of symptoms.
In order to effectively address this mindbody connection which may be involved in the painful expression, knowledge therapy is a good choice for many patients. You will not find this cure at your doctor’s office, since it is free and therefore goes against the economic plan set up by the profit driven back pain industry. This treatment can be found online, at a book store or even in your local library. There are no side effects or risks from this therapy. The only possible consequence can be the relief of your pain.
Sounds too good to be true? Give it a try and find out what I and millions of other patients already know… It can work. In my case, I used knowledge therapy to end 18 years of lower back suffering, which is why I endorse the benefits offered by the treatment, especially when compared to the risks and potential horrors of most forms of chronic back pain management.
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