Loss Of Work Due To Back Pain Alternative Therapies Available

The University of Gothenberg Sweden discloses research on patients listed for time off of work with neck and back problems, return to employment at various times even though their problems are closely related. Personal aspects seem to be a main reason for this decision.

During a ten year period, researchers observed 385 patients in a rehabilitation program. The participants were on sick leave due to neck and back problems. Researchers had the patients rate their own pain, functioning ability and overall life quality. Degrees of fitness were tested and the time off of work was recorded. Patients also answered about their own personal feelings and their ideas of future work life.

The conclusions revealed, along with other aspects, patients who displayed the ambition and desire wanting to work had returned back to their employment faster than patients that were uncertain and hesitant about their employment. Patient’s comprehension and knowledge of the situation is vital for the them to be able to deal with working again.

Patients that lack ambition or who have a bad aspect of life may need to receive some kind of counseling instead of the standard physiotherapy states Marie Lydell, registered physiotherapist and researcher with the Department of Public Health and Community Medicine. She also went on to say that other benefits should be given to those with acceptable abilities to return to work. In those instances, all that may be need is for the physiotherapist to be more of a mentor instead of giving traditional treatments.

Ms. Lydell perception is the health care system needs greater means to be able conjunct which patients would return faster to employment and those who would need more time to return to work. It would then the health care system could present the highest available rehabilitation to every patient. Decreasing each patients pain is the largest advantage and it also yield economic benefits.

Back and neck issues are the most frequent reason of loss of work time in Sweden. In the United States one out of three persons suffer from back pain. This causes society about 50 to 100 billion dollars per year in total costs. Low back pain especially is a major issue in western industrialized countries and a major cause of time loss of work and disability.

Although for some patients it does go away in time, however, for many it does become chronic. In reality conventional medicine has no real ability to provide effective treatments to deal with the problem. The standard form of treatments usually consist of the following:

Anti inflammatory medications that are over the counter:

Anacin and Bayer which can cause asthma, aspirin allergies, stomach bleeding and Rye’ Syndrome.

Tylenol which can cause acute liver failure that is number one in the United States.

Prescriptions such as:

Celebrex which can cause stomach bleeding, strokes and heart attacks.

Demerol, Vicodon, Norco including those like it can cause addiction to pain killers for they are habit forming. They also can destroy a persons liver.

Cortisone injections that only give temporary relief of pain and inflammation unfortunately they can weaken tendons at the site of injection and even cause them to rupture. If you are diabetic it can raise blood sugar levels. Long term side effects can cause thinning of the skin and bones, bruising easily, cataract formation and more.

Surgery is very serious procedure and should carefully be decided upon. There are numerous complications that can occur such as nerve damage and allergic reaction to anesthetics.

Alternative therapies have come a long way in recent years and now are equaling those of conventional medicine. Most of the time these methods can alleviate and remove pain from patient so they can go on and live a perfectly healthy and normal life style.

Some alternatives for back pain are as follows:

Chiropractic

Chiropractic adjustments also referred to as spinal manipulations contains moving a joint beyond its normal function range but not beyond what the joint is meant to do. The adjustments remove the pain and restore normal functioning. Back pain is one of the most frequent reasons why persons seek out chiropractic care. Research has shown it does have the ability to provide relief and is just as effective as conventional means.

Acupuncture

Acupuncture research as also shown and proved to be an effective method for back pain and is also equaled to conventional methods. Acupuncture is totally safe if done by a certified acupuncturist.

Physical Therapy

Physical therapy also has the ability to relieve back pain in persons, restore functioning and gives person education on how to prevent the problem from happening again.

There are many methods to physical therapy.

Passive: consists of heat and ice packs, TENS units, ultrasound and lontophoresis.

Exercises which can include stretching and strengthening for back pain.