Back Pain Treatment
If you suffer from back pain you could reasonably expect to have treatment that focuses on your back. But what if your back pain is caused by something that is not actually in your back?
Over the past 34 years we have seen tens of thousands of Gold Coast residents who suffer back pain and we have documented over 400,000 patient visits.
One important thing that we know is that every back problem is different.
Back at the Beginning
The purpose of this article is to help back pain sufferers make an informed choice, to get a lasting solution and...not waste precious time or money.
The onset of back pain without a known cause, such as a recent injury or over-doing it at work or play, gives rise to many options. These are three of the most common, in order...
(1) Do nothing and hope it goes away.
(2) Take some form of medication and hope it goes away.
(3) Visit a health-care professional and hope they can make it go away.
Just guessing, you probably already did (1) and it didn't work.
So you tried (2) and also...no joy.
Let's go to (3) and see what can happen.
(Please keep reading if you have had treatment and it didn't work or if you are still trying to choose your health-care professional).
The choice of health-care professional is endless. Our practice is in Nerang, last count 66 locations offering treatment for back pain. On the Gold Coast, close to 1,000!
How on earth are you meant to chose?
Best suggestion...ask your friends, use their experiences, good or bad, personal recommendation is by far the best method of selection. Just like chosing a tradesman...you would never pick one out of the newspaper classifieds, would you?
Who offers treatment for back pain?
Naturopaths, massage therapists, acupuncturists, G.P.s, physiotherapists, exercise physiologists and osteopaths, chiropractors and physicians and surgeons, practitioners of Bowen, Pilates, Feldenkrais, yoga, qi-gong, tai-chi, myotherapy, remedial therapy, occupational therapy, postural therapy, psychotherapy to mention a few.
What if you choose a health care professional who does treatment that doesn't fit your problem?
Most likely, you end up with a back problem and a bill. Still got the back pain! Only bright side to this scenario is that you get to know what doesn't work. Might work on some other body's back pain or even on you for another cause of back pain. It wasn't a bad treatment, it was just the wrong treatment. It could even be the best treatment, for some other body.
So, here you are, with back pain. No known cause. No previous back pain. The key to determining the best treatment is to ask the right questions. If your chosen health care person doesn't ask questions, but simply diagnoses and immediately procedes to outline a "treatment plan"...be very careful!
Thinking of a few of the more common causes, without going into the nasty diseases that refer pain throughout the back. Are you sleeping in a different bed, or driving a new car, or sitting in a different chair?
Or...driving the same old car with a saggy seat or sleeping on a daggy old mattress that you have had for 20 years. Have you started a new exercise program or bought new joggers or changed the position of the TV or got a new boy/girl friend, recently lost an old one?
Have you taken-up a new hobby or stopped doing an old one?
Have you had a colonic irrigation recently? Have you gone onto a detox program?
Has your work load changed, had a huge increase in responsibilities? (I have so much to do that I don't know where to start!) Are you taking a new medication or just finished a course of antibiotics...or a change of prescription or even new vitamins or herbs or supplements?
Are you trying to quit smoking? Using patches or pills?
Have you started a new diet?
So, you are not trying to lose weight, or gain weight, dieting or eating more, or you haven't just stopped eating meat or just started again after a few vegetarian years?
So many possible causes, please find a practitioner who will search for a "cause" before offering a "cure". Two things for sure...your back pain won't be from a "bone out of place" nor from a deficiency of anti-inflammatories.
