When you hear Back Pain, what do you think about? Do you think of it as an issue that will resolve on its own or one needs some treatment? What if I told you it is a major health issue in this country and is a problem that we should not take the wait and see approach with. What follows are 4 reasons to not wait to get it treated.

1. HIGH INCIDENCE: To begin with, as you may have read somewhere before, back pain is the most common muscle/joint reason to seek medical care in this country. Data suggests 80% (YES 80%) will experience back pain at some point in their life. Meaning…if you have not dealt with it before, there is a good chance you will. And not only that but it tends to be recurrent on the order of 90%. So…clearly this an is important issue to be addressed. If we treat it quickly and learn to manage it- we can reduce the current and future impact of back pain.
2. HIGH COST: In the US, we spend over $50 Billion per year treating back pain. This is only the DIRECT cost to the healthcare system. It does not take into account the cost of missed work, lost productivity at work (for employer), or the impact on family/social life (that number is north of $300 Billion). How much time off work can you afford? How willing are you to allow this to interfere with your home or social life?  Not only that but a single episode of back pain may cost the average person over $2000. Lets go back to #1 and try to prevent/limit future episodes.
3. LEFT UNCHECKED IT LASTS LONGER: The longer back pain is present, the longer it often takes to go away. No one enjoys living day after day with any pain. Why is that? Because our bodies adapt (in a negative way) to pain such that the body responds faster to normal activity or stimuli. What this means is that what you would normally not think about as a problem for your body (back), all the sudden becomes painful. The individual then reduces their activity resulting in further sensitivity developing. Along with this comes reduced endurance. Put this all together (with the stress and anxiety the back pain is putting into life) and now the individual is stuck in this vicious circle. It becomes difficult to break the cycle and get back to normal. This is where early treatment can be successful to help prevent a person from entering this process.
4. PREVENT/LIMIT EXPOSURE TO HARMFUL TREATMENTS: What can be harmful about treating back pain? Well, most imaging of the back is now discouraged because it only shows normal aging. Yet it is often explained to the people in harmful terms. This leads to stress and anxiety (neither of which help back pain) and leads them closer to injections or surgery (also now becoming more discouraged because of their lack of success). Multiple studies across the country now advise quick treatment for back pain with a rehab provider because of much higher success rates, reduced initial cost per episode (over 50% less), and prevent the many negative downstream effects.

There you have it…the 4 KEY reasons to not wait to treat back pain. The time is now to start feeling better and get back to doing all those wonderful things you enjoy.

If you are still skeptical about where to begin and not ready to take the big step forward, then try downloading these FREE suggestions that work for many who suffer with back pain.