A recently published article in the Globe & Mail entitled "Unnecessary medical treatments can hurt budgets and patients too" listed fifteen tests or procedures deemed unnecessary or potentially harmful by the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP).
Number 1 on the list was "Don't do imaging for low back pain in the first six weeks unless red flags are present. Low back pain is one of the top reasons for visits to family physicians, but imaging -- CT scan or MRI -- does not improve outcomes for most people."
There is very little other than surgery that doctors can do about back pain. They can mask it with analgesics, anti-inflammatories and muscle relaxants, but that does not address the cause. If a painkiller masks your pain, you will likely continue to perform the actions that caused your back injury in the first place, possibly making it worse.You would likely do better with physiotherapy, osteopathy, or chiropractic, physiotherapy in particular because a physiotherapist will prescribe exercises for you that will strengthen your back and help prevent future attacks.
I like working with physiotherapists in my bioenergy practice. I feel I complement what physiotherapists do (and vice versa). They complement what I do by teaching people how to keep the gains they made through energy treatments. I complement what they do by helping people get better faster.
So if you do have that dreaded low back pain and your doctor chooses the "wait and watch" approach advised by the AAFP, come and see me.
