The True Cost of Back Pain

What's the most common reason people visit the doctor's office? Okay, well that happens to be the common cold, but low back pain (LBP) is up there. This condition results in billions (with a “B”) of dollars in medical and labor costs every single year.

And although LBP isn't the number one reason people visit the doctor's office, it is among the top reasons people visit the emergency room. In fact, in 2008, there were an average of 9,400 daily emergency department visits for back pain across the U.S. And that's just the beginning. Let's take a closer look at the true cost of back pain.

Back Pain Treatment Costs

According to Medicare data collected from 1996 to 2004, there was a 629 percent increase in expenditures for epidural steroid injections, a 423 percent increase in opioids prescribed, and a 307 percent increase in spinal infusions. Even with the costs set aside, these numbers are frightening. A 423 percent (!) increase in opioids prescribed? How many more spinal infusions? Yikes.

So, with all of this back pain treatment, there must be a reduction in disability, right?

Wrong.

Social Security disability statistics note that musculoskeletal disorder disability has risen 4.8 percent from 2004 to 2005.

Now for some good news...

Physical therapy has been shown to be an inexpensive yet effective treatment for back pain. A 2007 Annals of Internal Medicine review found that manual physical therapy and exercise are effective at treating both sub-acute and chronic low back pain.

A 2009 Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons found that a treatment program that combines physical therapy with anti-inflammatory medications is the most effective treatment for most cases of symptomatic lumbar degenerative disc disease, a common cause of low back pain.

Consumer Reports continues to rank physical therapy among the top treatment choices for readers with back pain, according to a 2009 survey of more than 14,000 Americans with back pain. Other “hands-on” therapies also ranked higher on this survey than the expensive and often invasive treatment methods mentioned above, which leaves us with the conclusion that patients would be wise to seek out more conservative options at their first attempt to treat back pain. Not only do they stand to save on medical bills and missed days of work, but they also may sidestep side effects and risk factors associated with more invasive methods of treatment.

Stretching is one hands-on therapy that has also proven to be effective for treating low back pain, and it's one that can be done in the comfort of a patient's home. Using the Piri-Stretcher®, patients can target their stretch to the piriformis muscle that is the cause of low back pain for many individuals. The piriformis muscle, when damaged or stressed, can put pressure on the sciatic nerve that controls feeling in the lower back and limbs. Treating the cause of the problem by stretching the muscle is not only cost effective, but it also comes without side effects and with little to no risk involved.