Although Low Back Pain (LBP) is thought to affect around 80% of individuals, it is also thought to be self limited and get better quickly (within weeks). Studies of patient populations however suggest that it is actually a more serious problem. Although most patients who experience back pain do not see a doctor, 60-80% of those that do are still reporting pain one year later and in those whose pain has disappeared, 20% will have a recurrence within months.

A large number of patients (40-50%) will not see a medical physician for their pain preferring to receive alternative treatment, in large part due to the inability of our current model to help many of the patients suffering with lower back pain and neck pain. If there were a test to determine who was at risk not to have their pain eliminated and to be become a chronic sufferer, this could alert the clinician to employ more than one approach to ease the pain.  Published predictive studies are too different to compare outcomes although  the following factors are consistently found to predict poor outcome in the reviewed studies: older age, poor general health, increased psychological or psychosocial stress, poor relations with colleagues, physically heavy work, worse baseline functional disability, sciatica, and the presence of compensation.

Complimentary and alternative medicine (CAM) is used by 40-60% of patients in the US to deal with their back pain . The mechanism for effectiveness of the various CAM approaches deserves study as does the role of muscles in low back pain. The absence of a standardized routine examination of muscles’ strength, flexibility, and tenderness in patients with back pain ignores an important variable especially in light of the fact that the most common diagnosis for acute back pain is Non-specific Low Back Pain,  referring to sprains and strains of muscles and other soft tissue.

The bottom line is that our current system of care for lower back pain is sorely in need of review and revision.

One reason for the closing of many centers was the pull back by insurance carriers for payments for non-interventional pain treatment services. Doing a procedure seemed to be considered more valid and worthy of payment than a non-invasive service even if it was effective in reducing pain, improving function and lowering future cost of care. Today some of the best pain centers cannot survive by depending on insurance payments and are forced to charge their patients large out of pocket sums in order to remain in operation. Some of these insurance carriers that will not pay for comprehensive pain centers will routinely pay for procedures of questionable effectiveness. Although the number of CARF approved pain centers in the US halved, the number of outpatient pain centers mushroomed. The services provided however focused on two areas:

1. Medication management
2. Nerve blocks and other invasive procedures.

Some patients could be helped with one or both of these approaches, but many patients in need of physical therapy and psychological services that had been integrated in a comprehensive treatment plan, would no longer receive optimal treatment. Reimbursement would be the driver of care rather than the needs of the patient. Centers could not stay in business and provide care that insurance companies would not cover. The shift toward procedures became an accepted standard of care and new organizations of pain physicians were formed whose membership focused predominantly on invasive procedures.

The emphasis on medication management was in part fueled by the belief that most patients with persistent pain could be treated successfully and safely with strong pain medications, such as opioids like morphine and oxycodone. We have a better understanding now of problems encountered when we freely offered potent pain medications to too many patients. Strong pain medications not only treat pain but also affect mood. Many patients with or without pain have anxiety and/or depression. Pain medications can provide emotional relief and patients would take them consciously or inadvertently for psychological rather than pain relief. Prescribed pain medication have become more popular than street drugs such as heroin for people who were drug abusers and some patients feigned pain and sold the prescribed pills for a handsome profit.

The cost of services for the treatment of back and neck pain, now with many less comprehensive multi-disciplinary centers, has nonetheless continued to rise at an alarming rate. Next time let’s look at the phenomenon of unintended consequences.