A back pain specialist has an extensive formal education in traditional medicine or alternative healthcare practices. Doctors, chiropractors, physical therapists and other practitioners, spend years learning their craft and perfecting their skills. It is unfortunate that with all this hard work, 95% of these specialists can not actually cure the common back pain experienced by most patients.
Typically patients are referred to specialists by their primary care provider in the hopes of having access to effective treatment from an expert who best understands the nature of their symptomatic complaint. However, when it comes to dorsalgia, it is clear that many specialists are simply not effectively treating patients, since the back pain epidemic is growing faster and faster year over year with few statistical cures ever enacted in the patient population.
Back Pain Specialist Treatments
Many experts in medical back pain relief love symptomatic treatments. Treatments are the bread and butter of healthcare. Treatments will make the condition more livable for the patient, but will do nothing to actually cure the problem. Treatments make the patient dependent on the care provider, drug or service.
Healthcare has proven itself to be almost completely powerless to actually cure most types of chronic back pain. There are literally hundreds of back pain treatments, but horribly few cures.In some cases, the reasons for this are purely economically-motivated. In others, it is simply a lack of understanding on the part of the doctor about the real causes of the patient’s pain.
Authentic Back Pain Specialists
There are some doctors and therapists who have the right to call themselves experts. Dr. John Sarno, for example, spent his career learning how to cure the pain, rather than treat it. There are some fantastic surgeons who can offer a true cure for some types of physical back pain. There are some authors and therapists who can offer a true cure for some types of psychological back pain.
Unfortunately, these people represent a tiny percentage of the total healthcare workers in the back pain industry. The rest are simply caught up in the diagnostic/treatment agenda. Statistically, patients have a better chance of a complete recovery if they receive no treatment at all.
That’s right, you heard me correctly… Patients will generally have a better chance at a real cure if they never seek any medical attention for their back pain. This fact was first discovered in European studies on whiplash and has since been documented in many other clinical projects.
How can this be true? How can an incredibly respected science such as medicine demonstrate worse results than no treatment? In some instances, the reasons are simple.
The True Talent of a Specialist
The skill that most of these healthcare professionals excel in is the misdiagnosis of painful conditions. It seems that they can always find some reason on which to blame the pain. Sometimes this diagnosis is correct, but other times, misdiagnosed back pain can cause years of suffering for the poor patient.
That’s ok, because if the doctor gets it wrong the first time, or second, or third, they will always have some reason why the condition has changed or why it has not responded to treatment. Hey, they get paid regardless, so what does it really matter if they are right or not? What are the consequences?
Psychological Back Pain Specialist
Back pain specialists have still not universally embraced the fact that many cases of back ache are caused by a psychological process. The majority of common chronic back pain is not purely physical. Sure, the pain is real and there may even be a scapegoat condition in place. However, the actual cause or perpetuation of the pain is due to an emotional source.
Experts in mindbody medicine have understood this concept for a long time. That is the reason why some healthcare practitioners using a physical, mental and spiritual approach have enjoyed such excellent curative results.
Seeking Out a Back Pain Specialist
Please, do not misunderstand this editorial. I am not recommending avoiding doctors. I am not saying that doctors are incompetent, greedy or unskilled. Healthcare workers in general are some of the most caring and knowledgeable people I have ever met.
Unfortunately, the medical education system has only prepared most doctors for the physical diagnostic needs of their patients. It has done nothing to teach doctors about the huge amount of psychosomatic conditions that continue to plague patients worldwide.
The medical fraternity has also made getting an objective second opinion very difficult. Few doctors have the strength of character to call another doctor wrong. I have personally had the experience of a doctor giving me his opinion of my condition and then completely back peddling on his own words once he found out that a colleague had diagnosed a completely different condition. It was surreal. Somehow, it brings a strange sense of satisfaction looking back to realize that both of these doctors were completely incorrect in their diagnostic pronouncements.
I am not a physician, I am a researcher, advocate, pain coach, martial artist and fitness professional. In martial arts, there are many who claim to have expertise, but simply do not achieve the proper results from their training. If they compete, they lose. It is a simple fact. It is the same with doctors who can not actually help their patients get better. Knowledge is great, but results speak much louder than words.
Critics are always frowned upon. The most common reason for this is because much of what they say is true and hits a sensitive nerve with those they criticize.
One does not have to be a medical doctor to clearly see that many treatment procedures make no sense for the diagnosed condition.
One does not need to be a back pain expert to cure back pain. I am just a guy, a normal guy, but I cured my pain. I have helped tens of thousands of others find relief through my writings, patient advocacy efforts and outreach projects.
What do I have that a brilliant and educated back pain specialist might not possess? Only one thing: Objectivity.
