THE IDEAL TREATMENT FOR LOW B
It is estimated that one-half of all Americans experience lower back pain annually, and it is considered to be the leading cause of workplace disability worldwide—not just in the United States. It is also one of the most common reasons that people miss work, and is the secondmost common reason that people visit the doctor’s office. When you put those two facts together, the cost of dealing with lower back pain really starts to add up. The average annual cost of dealing with back pain in the United States is $50 billion dollars. Unfortunately, a lot of those financial resources go into dealingwith back pain through pain management and medication, but that is not an effective long-term solution for dealing with back pain. A far healthier and cost-effective solution is through physical therapy. LOWE R BACK PA I N I N THE UN I T E D STAT E S According to the National Institute for Health, the rates of lowback 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 the pain, and what the severity of the pain is like. They found by talking with household members across the state that the incidence of lower back pain has increased significantly since the last time this survey was conducted, which was in 1992. Since 1992, the percentage of people coping with lower back pain increased from just over three percent to well over 10 percent. This is a significant finding, especially when it was found that the increase in lower back pain remained constant across demographics. A further interesting finding is that of those who experience 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 more people are experiencing back pain, more people are also seeking treatment for that pain, though there is still an approximate 15 percent of the population who are coping with severe lower back painwithout treatment. For those, seeking support froma physical therapist could significantly improve quality of life.
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