Long-Term Back Pain Not Inevitable, Study
Finds
Chances of
recovering from chronic discomfort are better than
previously thought, research
shows
Once again, I hate to say that I told you all
so.
But I did.
Here's new research that's good news for people
with chronic low back pain: About four in 10 will recover
within a year, according to a study that challenges the common
belief that recovery from this type of pain is unlikely.
The Australian study included about 400 patients who sought
treatment for acute low back pain at primary care clinics and
had not recovered after 90 days. Acute low back pain was
defined as pain that had lasted more than 24 hours but less
than two weeks.
During telephone surveys nine and 12 months later, the
patients were asked about their pain and disability levels and
work status. Complete recovery was reported by 35 percent of
patients within nine months and by 41 percent within a year,
the researchers noted.
The findings show that the rate of recovery from chronic low
back pain is higher than previously reported and that the
prognosis for these patients isn't uniformly poor, said lead
study author at the University of Sydney. These findings
should prove reassuring for patients because it shows that it's
possible to recover from a new episode of low chronic back
pain, the researchers added.
While these findings seem encouraging, much longer follow-up
of patients with chronic low back pain is needed in order to
learn more about how different patterns emerge and in what
order, and why some people recover while others have episodic
pain for years or long-term constant pain.
This is consistent with what we found in an audit of our
charts from 2002-2006. About 44% of our patients with
back or neck pain fully recovered in just under 90
days. This includes patients with sciatica as
well.
The real culprits behind low back pain, in our
opinion, are recurrence and failure to
completely handle the first episode correctly. These
two factors are what drive repeated aggravations and relapses
that take what was or might have been a controllable
injury, and turn it into a chronic problem.
However with proper care, self-management (yes, YOU are
responsible for your condition) most back pain does NOT
need to become a life sentence.
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