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The back pain-industrial complex is an incredible web of interlocking interests where no part has an incentive to really cure anything long term. The canonical

by tacon 5y ago

The back pain-industrial complex is an incredible web of interlocking interests where no part has an incentive to really cure anything long term. The canonical expose of this system is the recent book "Crooked: Outwitting the Back Pain Industry and Getting on the Road to Recovery"[0], where a seasoned investigative reporter surveys the entire industry in detail. She gave a nice summary on this podcast[1]. And she has a detailed section on the breakthrough ideas of Dr. Sarno, and how he was ignored for decades. The book is in three sections. The first section is a very depressing history of back surgeries and devices attached to the back, that almost uniformly fail after a few years, leaving the patients worse than they started. The second section covers various exercise and bootcamp approaches, including the MedX lumbar extention machine invented by Arthur Jones, who also invented Nautilus machines with adjustable strength curves via cams. The MedX lumbar machine was the only device that could isolate and recruit the inter-vertebral muscles, which have been shown to be weak in patients with lower back pain. The machines came in a medical version[2] and an exercise version[3]. The back pain industry saw that the medical machine was working much too well and cutting into their income, so they had insurance companies stop paying for "exercise" modalities, and that approach died. The third section of the book is on the wide range of body manipulation techniques, like pilates, etc. [0] https://www.amazon.com/Crooked-Outwitting-Industry-Getting-Recovery-ebook/dp/B01KFBO81U/ https://www.amazon.com/Crooked-Outwitting-Industry-Getting-R... [1] https://informfitness.com/podcast/50-outwitting-back-pain-cathryn-jakobson-ramin/ https://informfitness.com/podcast/50-outwitting-back-pain-ca... [2] https://youtu.be/Ao1CkBbe2nw https://youtu.be/Ao1CkBbe2nw [3] https://youtu.be/1Z-FyeG7pqY https://youtu.be/1Z-FyeG7pqY

mylons 5y ago
i have kyphosis (moderate) and scoliosis (mild). i had debilitating pain at times and thought I’d need surgery. I was lucky and ran into doctors that wouldn’t give me pain meds and insisted I not pursue surgery. Finally in my early 30s read Crooked and took up weight lifting, very slow progression, empty bar for each olympic lift. my back feels _amazing_ now. I never get pain anymore and have a new obsession.
- tsol 5y ago
  I believe that's the standard currently. My father had back issues and when I consulted my brother who's an MD he said surgery is used as a last resort as it almost inevitably has its own heavy side effects. Pain medication, when used, is symptomatic treatment and not meant to be a solution-- when used it's just to allow a relatively normal life so that you don't lose you job and neglect your kids until you can get your treatment sorted out. Referrals to physical therapists or chiros is the standard, as the best thing one can do is apply simple therapies(hot & cold packs, electric stimulation, local steroid injections to reduce swelling, etc) and teach exercises to strengthen support muscles. Some doctors can be malicious, but most are just trying to navigate a very difficult issue with little few silver bullets

by tacon 5y ago

mylons 5y ago

i have kyphosis (moderate) and scoliosis (mild). i had debilitating pain at times and thought I’d need surgery. I was lucky and ran into doctors that wouldn’t give me pain meds and insisted I not pursue surgery. Finally in my early 30s read Crooked and took up weight lifting, very slow progression, empty bar for each olympic lift. my back feels _amazing_ now. I never get pain anymore and have a new obsession.

tsol 5y ago
I believe that's the standard currently. My father had back issues and when I consulted my brother who's an MD he said surgery is used as a last resort as it almost inevitably has its own heavy side effects. Pain medication, when used, is symptomatic treatment and not meant to be a solution-- when used it's just to allow a relatively normal life so that you don't lose you job and neglect your kids until you can get your treatment sorted out. Referrals to physical therapists or chiros is the standard, as the best thing one can do is apply simple therapies(hot & cold packs, electric stimulation, local steroid injections to reduce swelling, etc) and teach exercises to strengthen support muscles. Some doctors can be malicious, but most are just trying to navigate a very difficult issue with little few silver bullets