There’s a current tongue-in-cheek TV commercial for a ginormous online pharmacy in which a would-be patient, who is stuck on the floor and suffering from debilitating back pain, keeps being misunderstood by the voice activation commands that he’s giving to his cell phone.
The entire scenario is played for laughs — but as anyone who has been waylaid by spinal issues knows, there’s nothing funny about a bad back.
According to the World Health Organization, back pain affects more than 600 million people globally and is the single leading cause of disability worldwide.
Yet despite how widespread it is, experts believe many people still make care decisions based on back-pain myths that can push them toward fear, inactivity, unnecessary treatment, and confusion before they come to understand what truly helps such conditions.
“People believe a lot of things about low back pain that are not true,” says spine health researcher, clinician, chiropractor, author, and Duke University professor Dr. Christine Goertz. ”Unfortunately, patients are often overwhelmed by conflicting advice from social media, online quick fixes and common misconceptions about recovery.”
In Goertz’s forthcoming book, “Take Your Back Back: Whole Health Healing for Low Back Pain,” she debunks several myths about back pain and provides solid, practical, evidence-based, and easy-to-follow protocols for reducing your current back pain and preventing recurrences.
Debunking myths about back pain
Myth No. 1: Rest is the best treatment
One of the most common myths is the belief that a painful back must be rested until it heals. Goertz calls this myth one of the most harmful assumptions patients make. While short-term modifications to normal activity may be necessary, complete inactivity can keep people from returning to normal life and may reinforce the idea that movement is dangerous.
“The truth is that you need to move as much as you possibly can,” said Goertz. “If you are only moving 100 steps a day, start from there, do a little more tomorrow, and a little more the next day.”
Myth No. 2: Lower back pain means something is seriously wrong
Another damaging myth is that severe pain automatically means something is seriously wrong.
Fear itself can lead patients down the wrong path if it sends them immediately toward prescription medications or invasive procedures.
For most people, Goertz says the first response should be informed self-care. That approach may include moving as much as possible, applying heat or ice, taking short-term over-the-counter anti-inflammatory medication when appropriate, and seeking help from an evidence-based chiropractor or physical therapist who specializes in low back pain if self-care strategies are not working.
The exception to this is the presence of “red-flag” symptoms, such as loss of bowel or bladder control, progressive neurological weakness, or other serious neurological symptoms that require immediate medical attention.
Myth No. 3: There is a quick fix for lower back pain
This is where social media and online health content can make an already confusing issue worse.
Videos promising instant relief, one exercise that “fixes” back pain forever, or a single explanation for the root cause of pain may be appealing.
In some cases, these self-care tactics might even help.
But the problems occur, says Goertz, when patients are sold on the idea of certainty when none exists.
“Low back pain is often caused by several different factors, especially when you have had it for a while,” explains Goertz. “There are a lot of things you can do while you heal that make you feel better in the short term. But there is no single quick fix that works for everyone.”
Myth No. 4: Surgery and steroid injections are your best bets to heal low back pain
Another major misconception is that the most aggressive treatment option available is always the best way to go.
“Surgery and corticosteroid injections are not right for most patients,” notes Goertz said. “They do not necessarily fix what is wrong with your back.”
Instead, evidence-based first-line care often begins with education, movement, and non-drug therapies.
The American College of Physicians — as well as Goertz herself in “Take Your Back Back” — recommend non-pharmaceutical protocols such as superficial heat, massage, acupuncture, and spinal manipulation for acute or subacute low back pain. In addition, she stresses the need to combine exercise, multidisciplinary rehabilitation, mindfulness-based stress reduction, cognitive behavioral therapy, and spinal manipulation as ways to reduce and/or eliminate chronic low back pain.
“People with low back pain need practical information they can use, especially because the science on low back pain doesn’t always match what many patients are actually told,” says Goertz, whose new book publishes in October and is available for pre-order on Amazon. “They need to know when to seek urgent care, how to keep moving, and how to find the right clinician if they need help.”
Steve Dorfman is a journalist for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA Today Network of Florida. He writes about all aspects of health, fitness and wellness. If you have news tips, please send them to sdorfman@pbpost.com. Help support our local journalism, subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Why resting your bad back might be the wrong move
Reporting by Steve Dorfman, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Steve Dorfman, Palm Beach Post | USA TODAY Network
