There has been a significant increase in the number of Americans who suffer from back pain. Back pain is also a major reason for absence of employees, which is a big concern to employers. More people are spending their money trying to find the most effective treatment in order to cure their back pain. However, research shows that most people are wasting their money and not finding effective relief from back pain. The common trend is that back pain relief is elusive for most patients. Most patients are actually not expecting the results to be so poor despite spending so much money on trying to alleviate the problem. Most patients who have received treatment for the first time tend to get back pain again within six months.

Back Pain Relief Elusive For Most Patients

Low back pain is one of the most significant health problems

Few patients with acute low back pain (LBP), with or without sciatica, declare sick leave; however, approximately half have one or more recurrences and a considerable proportion experience chronic pain six months or longer after the initial episode, according to a study published in the April 15 issue of Spine.

 

 

Wolf E. Mehling, M.D., of the University of California in San Francisco, and colleagues conducted a prospective cohort study involving 605 patients with up to 30 days of acute LBP, with or without sciatica, to evaluate the prognosis of these patients who are treated in the primary care setting. A total of 521 patients were available for follow-up at six months and 443 patients were available for follow-up at two years.

 

On a scale of one to 10, the researchers found the average pain intensity of study participants to be 5.6. The average disability score, measured on the Roland-Morris scale from 0 to 24, was 15.8. Between pain onset and baseline interview, only 8 percent declared sick leave. Chronic pain was experienced by 13 and 19 percent at six months and two years, respectively. Approximately half of patients experienced one or more recurrences of LBP (54 percent at six months and 47 percent in the subsequent 18 months).

 

“The prognosis of strictly defined acute LBP, with or without sciatica, is less favorable than commonly stated in practice guidelines based on failure to return to work ” the authors write. “Broad initiatives to develop new means for the primary and secondary prevention of recurrent and chronic LBP are urgently needed.”

 

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Much effort is going into research to find a permanent cure for lower back pain. But a large percentage of people suffer from disability due to lower back pain despite many new techniques for back pain treatment. The pain seems to return and relapse over time.

 
There have been imaging tests done on these recurring back pain sufferers; surgery has been done when needed, and others have had a series of injections to relieve the pain. Both forms of treatment are expensive, and the patients tend to undergo them with hope that the pain will be relieved and will not recur anymore. But a large percentage of patients suffer in vain as all the expense of surgery and injections go to waste, and the pain returns. That is the reason we often find back pain relief elusive for most patients.

In this video, Jen Hilman – yoga teacher and licensed massage therapist shares her secrets about how to relieve pain due to sciatica or tension on the sciatic nerve using simple stretching and yoga poses.

Find more exercises and stretches for lower back pain relief in Jesse Cannone’s Book The 7 Day Back Pain Cure. It has heaps of great tips on how to strengthen your back and get you on the road to recovery. Sign up for your free hardcover copy below.