Back pain: mistakes to avoid (which we all do)

These are always impressive numbers, those of back pain: it is known, for example, that 80 percent of us will suffer from it sooner or later. But the data pitted from The Lancet on the occasion of a recent special issue dedicated to the topic are really worrying: today low back pain is the leading cause of disability in the world, with the most complex cases growing by 54 percent in the last 25 years, and also in our country the main reason for being absent from work. Given the premises, one would expect the problem to be addressed in the best way everywhere; instead experts point out that the majority of patients still receive wrong or inadequate care. The scientific studies are clear: back pain should mainly be treated with specific exercises, regular physical activity and learning to manage everyday life, without ever standing still. Yet, in reality, the majority of patients are told to rest, take drugs inappropriately or for too long, undergo unnecessary tests and end up in the emergency room or under the surgeon’s knife without there being a real one. necessity. (continues below the image)

A half world catastrophe: the data of The Lancet refer to dozens of different countries but the same trend everywhere: from the United States, where opioids are the most popular and only one in two people are advised to exercise, to South Africa, where therapy consists only of painkillers in 1990 percent of cases. But who to see first in case of back pain? In Italy the contact person always the family doctorthen comes the physiatrist; according to a US study for also the physiotherapist a good choice if you happen to have low back pain for the first time, because this reduces prescription drugs by almost 90 percent and the use of complex diagnostic tests by 28 percent.