Health & Wellness The Newsletter About Your Health And Caring For Your Body
Low back pain is by far one of the most common ailments ever experienced. Just about everyone deals with low back pain at one point in their life. For some, the lucky ones, perhaps, the pain is just for a day or two as a result of a particularly grueling day of yard work or a slip-and-fall accident that landed you flat on your bumwithabruisetoprove it.Forothers,the lowbackpain issomethingthat lingers for years and years, getting worse as a result of improper footwear or particularly unsupportive furniture, and never really healing or going away. It is estimated that one-half of all Americans experience lower back pain annually, and it isconsidered tobe the leadingcauseofworkplacedisabilityworldwide—not just in the United States. It is also one of the most common reasons that people miss work, and is the second most common reason that people visit the doctor’s office. When you put those two facts together, the cost of dealing with lower back painreallystartstoaddup.Theaverageannualcostofdealingwithbackpain inthe UnitedStates is$50billiondollars.Unfortunately,a lotof thosefinancialresources go intodealingwithbackpain throughpainmanagementandmedication,but that isnotaneffective long-termsolution fordealingwithbackpain.A farhealthierand cost-effective solution is through physical therapy. THE IDEAL TREATMENT FOR LOW BACK PAIN
LOWER BACK PAIN IN THE UNITED STATES According to the National Institute for Health, the rates of low back pain have been steadily rising in the United States over the past 20 years. The study was conducted by medical researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Researchers consulted with members of the North Carolina community who experienced back pain to understand what caused their pain, how frequently they experience thepain,andwhat theseverityof thepain is like.They foundby talking withhouseholdmembersacrossthestatethatthe incidenceof lowerbackpainhas increasedsignificantlysincethe lasttimethissurveywasconducted,whichwas in 1992.Since1992, thepercentageofpeoplecopingwith lowerbackpain increased from just over three percent to well over 10 percent. This is a significant finding, especiallywhen itwasfoundthatthe increase in lowerbackpainremainedconstant acrossdemographics.A further interestingfinding is thatof thosewhoexperience lower back pain, 84 percent opted to seek medical treatment to address the pain, which was an increase of more than 10 percent in 1992. This means that while morepeopleareexperiencingbackpain,morepeoplearealsoseekingtreatmentfor thatpain, though there isstillanapproximate15percentof thepopulationwhoare coping with severe lower back pain without treatment. For those, seeking support from a physical therapist could significantly improve quality of life. (continued inside)
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