Is bed rest a good treatment for back pain?
Traditionally, bed rest was the recommended treatment for back pain. However, many recent studies have shown that bed rest is counterproductive and often detrimental in treating back pain. Bed rest allows muscles to de-condition and has been shown to significantly slow the rate of recovery of patients from acute back pain. The recommended activity modification for patients with back pain is to stop whatever activity is causing the back pain. Specifically, if bending and lifting cause back pain, then bending and lifting should be avoided. If a twisting motion, such as playing golf, causes back pain, then playing golf should be stopped. However, the individual with the back pain should remain as active as they can be as long as they are not having pain. Bed rest should only be used in cases where the patient is having severe pain and cannot even tolerate simple activities of daily living, such as standing, walking, or sitting without suffering from severe pain. In these cases, then a ver
