I suppose this one is no surprise: when researchers asked back suffers what they wanted most, the answer was clear: relief from pain. The other option for the survey respondents was better mobility. The vote was not even close. 79% said they would prefer relief from pain to being able to move more freely. I think the results would have been the same for almost any malady: most people are going to want to make the pain stop before they think about other improvements. What is the value in being able to stand or walk or even sit if you are in pain?
These results should matter most to the doctors who treat chronic back pain. According to the study, unlike patients, doctors think improving mobility is more important. Does this mean that back doctors will shift their focus away from increasing mobility and towards pain relief? Maybe. But, then, doctors are not the group most open to taking suggestions. With ever-increasing regulations on the use of opioid medications, I suspect doctors are going to focus even less on pain relief than they did before. The DEA is not going to demand to see their records if the doctors are prescribing PT and not Percocets. No doctor ever lost her license for recommending a few dozen sit ups or yoga.
Just Take Away The Pain And I’ll Get Around OK
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