This is an unfortunate example of the “confirmation bias” in medicine as it relates to pain.
There are only 2 types of pain. (open for debate)
1. Emergency issues or eminent death issues. (Cancer, infections, tumors and strokes)
2. Sub-acute or autoimmune pain syndromes. (Treatable)
3. Non-Emergency pain syndromes. (Everything else)
The everything else is what causes the most misery, pain and dysfunction, the easiest to treat and manage. Doctors have known this for half a century but decided, for some reason, that the medical community would overlook such “simplicity” because you can’t see it on a scan. Guess what … the only way to “SEE” this issue is to ask the patient! The person who is suffering. Modern technology has made the patient complaint insignificant.
Today, It is easy to just bypass what the patient is saying or feeling and look at the evidence, blood test, scan etc. The most important part of a patient encounter was the history and physical exam. Not anymore! Most doctors look right past the patient to the testing to make a diagnosis. Oh … doctors don’t even do physical exams anymore. So the patient is just a “dummy” a non-entity.
Myofascial pain and dysfunction caused by faults in muscle fibers called Trigger Points, are greatest ignored scourge to human existence! TPs are the culprit is most complex pain syndromes. Medical educators short sightedness as it relates to TPs; the massive impact of TPs on the human body, what they are, how they affect the human body, why they need to be addressed, the circumstances of missed opportunity, the long-term effects and the final results on the human body.
I browsed the article and Arachnoiditis Society for Awareness and Prevention site … no mention of alternatives, acupuncture, myofascial issues or other resources. This is an example of poor research, medicine and obvious bias.
Read Travell-Simons, Rachlin, Gunn, Hackett and other MDs to get a real idea of how to really treat back pain.
