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The best overview of the back pain industry is the recent book, "Crooked: Outwitting the Back Pain Industry and Getting on the Road to Recovery"[0]. The author
by tacon 7y ago
The best overview of the back pain industry is the recent book, "Crooked: Outwitting the Back Pain Industry and Getting on the Road to Recovery"[0]. The author's interview here[1] is a chilling survey of how the back pain industry extracts money from the population. The article mentions back pain becoming independent of injury, and that idea is from Dr. Sarno[2] in the 1970s, and he was ridiculed for decades about that idea. It is now recognized that a pain circuit can establish itself and run long after all physical injury is healed.
One reason back pain is tricky is that the intravertebral muscles spasm to protect the spinal core, and the spasms don't stop for up to ten days. By that time, the patient may have seen three doctors and had three different therapies. When the spasms subside, they associate the last treatment as the one that "healed" their back, when in fact, 80% of all back pain resolves itself with or without treatment.
There is a growing body of evidence-based research into exercise and back pain. The most studied device is the MedX lumbar extension machine[3][4], invented by Arthur Jones, the genius behind Nautilus exercise machines. Slowly the knowledge to strengthen the specific perispinal muscles is spreading[5].
[0] https://www.amazon.com/Crooked-Outwitting-Industry-Getting-Recovery/dp/0062641794/ https://www.amazon.com/Crooked-Outwitting-Industry-Getting-R...
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztdKosnQHaE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztdKosnQHaE
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_E._Sarno https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_E._Sarno
[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Z-FyeG7pqY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Z-FyeG7pqY
[4] http://ssudl.solent.ac.uk/2270/ http://ssudl.solent.ac.uk/2270/
[5] https://highintensitybusiness.com/podcast/dr-ted-dreisinger/ https://highintensitybusiness.com/podcast/dr-ted-dreisinger/
- randcraw 7y agoAn excellent book. A long term back pain sufferer herself, in the course of more than a decade the author interviews numerous physicians and trainers in the field of back pain therapy about their method or insights, and does a nice job of contrasting their philosophies and tracking trends in back rehab over time. Ultimately her experiences and intuitions make a strong case for focused strength training to correct our natural overreaction to past injuries, which often overstresses muscles and joints that can't compensate fully, causing pain.