Five times as many operations for back pain are done in the US, compared with the UK, and twice as many as are done in Canada and Europe. The US has far more neurosurgeons per capita than these areas of the world. Are these two facts coincidences, and do we in the US have far more back pain really needing surgery than these areas of the world? We at the RNI don’t think so.
We here at the RNI believe in giving conservative therapy a real chance for back and neck pain instead of giving PT a lick and a promise, doing epidural injections that we know now just don’t work, and then, when “all other therapies are exhausted” rushing patients over to our neurosurgical colleagues, who by the way, are really good if you need them. If a really good neurosurgeon sees a patient first, if it’s not an emergency, they will frequently try to talk patients out of surgery, because they know what we know, that surgery is rarely the “final answer.”
Here at RNI we take great care to make sure patients’ lives are improved for the long term. Acute back and neck pain is an area where beginning with a conservative approach is crucial to long-term outcomes, since a single spinal surgery leads to a much higher chance that further surgeries will be required – what we call the “slippery slope.”
Instead, diagnosis permitting, we use non-invasive treatment and medication to get patients past the initial trauma, and then physical therapy to re-train their muscles to support the spine and prevent re-injury. This is a case where our physical therapists contribute directly to RNI’s original research efforts. You can read more about pain and other neurological symptoms around the spine on our page about “Back Pain & Neck Pain Relief for the Long Term.”
Unfortunately the statistics suggest that more and more patients are receiving aggressive therapy for back and neck problems right out of the gate, in the form of surgery. Surgeries of many types – to remove bulges from discs, remove bone from vertebra, and fuse vertebra together – are all necessary in some small percentage of cases. However, there is a clear trend toward patients getting surgery where conservative approaches would work. In many cases they are probably not aware of the long-term consequences of surgery. Our new article “7 Reasons to Get Your Back or Neck Diagnosed by a Neurologist Before Seeing a Surgeon” addresses the pitfalls of going straight to a surgeon when you experience acute back pain.
In order to better inform the Kansas City community, we have added a new section on Back and Neck Pain to our website, and we hope that visitors will be able to use and share this information. There is already an article there explaining the use of EMG for diagnosis of nerves affected by spinal issues, and we hope to add more informational articles in the future.
In the meantime, if anyone you know experiences back or neck pain, we hope you will direct them to this site in order to learn about their alternatives.
