Here is an excerpt from my revcent San Francisco herniated disc patient newsletter I thought you would find interesting: You may have heard that 90% of all back pain "Goes Away On It's Own" or heals by itself. In fact, one of the most dangerous and accepted myths about back pain is that it goes away all by itself, without any treatment. If you have had back pain for more than one month...or...your back pain keeps coming back and back and back...each time worse than before...I don't have to tell you how false that outdated information is. And as proof, there was a study done in the May 1998 issue of the British Medical Journal that showed just how long lasting back pain can be. In that study, patients were examined and then treated. Twelve months later they were treated again. Here are the results:
- 25% had no back pain and no disability
- 25% had pain or disability
- 50% had pain and disability
Here is a comment from one of the authors of the study:
"This takes into account of two consistent observations about low-back pain: firstly, a previous episode of low back pain is the strongest risk factor for a new episode, and, secondly, by age 30 years, almost half the population will have experienced a substantive episode of low-back pain. These figures do not fit with claims that 90% of episodes of low-back pain end in complete recovery".
So, if you have back pain from herniated or bulging discs...the odds are not in your favor that the pain is going to just go away on it's own. To download the newsletter in its entirety click here: Download jul_06_drx_pnl.DOC
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