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Back Pain - How to Successfully Talk to Your Doctor

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Back Pain costs us all

The cost of diagnosis and treatment of back pain is 25 billion dollars annually. Eighty percent of all Americans will have back pain for a few weeks sometime in their life. Of all causes of disability, 30% is attributed to chronic back pain.

80% of all acute back pain resolves within 6 weeks. Treatment of acute back pain is nonspecific since it improves as long as it is not aggravated. Massage, accupressure, chiropractic, and physical therapy all work as well as McKenzie exercises done at home.

This lens should help you understand back pain, prepare better to see your doctor and hopefully help you recover more quickly because you understand more about the condition.

Contents at a Glance

Acute Low Back Pain
Questions to answer before you see your...
Keys to a Back Pain Examination.
More back pain information
The Basics of Back Pain
What is the latest news about Back Pain?

Stanford University - the research channel

Do I need a test for low back pain, what are the medications and what should I ask. Answers here.

Questions to answer before you see your Doctor.

Be prepared with organized information

The better prepared you are to provide information to your doctor, the better your care will be.

Did an injury cause your pain? Describe how it happened?
Do you have a)Numbness or tingling b)difficulty holding or releasing your bowels or urine c)weakness of muscles in your legs or feet
Do you have:
a)fever of at least 100 degrees
b)headache
c)sweating during sleep
d)painful urination or blood in your urine
e)discharge from your penis or vagina
Do you or Have you:
a)smoke
b)drink alcohol
c)recently take prednisone
d)used IV drugs in past 30 days
e)ever been treated for cancer
f)have any kind of arthritis

Keys to a Back Pain Examination.

The exam doesn't need to take long but should be thorough.

You should have your height, weight, blood pressure, pulse, and temperature recorded.
Your spine will be observed and palpated for tenderness.
You will be asked to walk as if on a tight rope, and on your heels and toes.
You will be asked to stand and bend forward, back, to each side and to rotate your shoulders right and left.
Your knee and ankle reflexes will be tested.
You should be asked to lie on your back while your muscle strength is tested, your ability to tolerate each leg being extended straight and then examined on your abdomen and while on your abdomen to lift yourself onto your elbows.
If your pain is less than 6 weeks old, medication, some rest, stretching and time will be prescribed.
You will be scheduled to return for reevaluation periodically until the pain resolves. You should expect that it will resolve.
Lab tests and xrays are not usually done if the history and physical are benign.

More back pain information

Good books on the subject of back pain.

Good information for you and your purchase will provide money for Room to Read, the charity I support with my lenses. The McKenzie exercises are well documented to help acute mechanical back pain, the most common type of back pain.

The Basics of Back Pain

A doctor for the pro Golf and Tennis circuit discuses back pain

What is the latest news about Back Pain?

Here is a feed from Google on the Back Pain topic.

Heat's Miller ignores the back pain: "You just do what you got to do," said Miller when asked about fighting through the pain. Miller's back isn't the only thing hurting him right now. There are other injuries that will be addressed after the playoffs. He was in so much pain during Games ...
Relieve Neck & Back Pain the Natural Way with Specialty Pillows from New Store: For additional information on relieving neck and back pain with pillows, visit the site's brand new blog. Web entrepreneur Monica Decker-Molina is pleased to debut her online organic therapeutic pillow shop, http://www.OrganicNeckPillow.com.
Orlando Pain Management Doctors Now Offering Chronic Neck and Back Pain ...: Radiofrequency ablation is one of the most modern pain management treatments available with the real potential for reducing chronic back and neck pain for over a year. Additional pain management services at National Pain's Florida pain clinics include ...
Targeted back care 'better and cheaper': Targeted back pain care is ?cheaper and better for patients?, BBC News has reported. The BBC says that a new model for assessing the severity of back pain has shown significant improvements compared with current methods, and could also save more than ...

I really want to hear your story or your comments.

But, you can't leave any HTML code and I edit all comments

Sorry, I have to do the editing since I have been getting lots of spam and Squidoo, would not let me publish the lens with spam comments in place. I had to delete them all and start over. To Any who left a comment that was valid I applolgize.

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Richard3331 Feb 20, 2012 @ 5:50 pm | delete

Very useful

My wife has a hospital appointment this week for a back pain she has had for some time. This will help cope with the jargon

Thank you

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sallemange Nov 1, 2011 @ 3:09 am | delete

This is so common. I had real trouble with an upper back problem. Going to a qualified physician who understood muscles and nerves was the only way I was able to get the reight treatment to stop it.

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BruceBair Nov 1, 2011 @ 1:09 pm | delete

I am glad you were able to get appropriate treatment and get resolution to your problem. Thanks for stopping by and for commenting.

Reply

BruceBair Nov 1, 2011 @ 1:09 pm | delete

I am glad you were able to get appropriate treatment and get resolution to your problem. Thanks for stopping by and for commenting.