Back pain can be an enormous obstacle to your daily life. Our spines are so central to every movement we make that any discomfort or pain can make ordinary activities unbearable.

There are numerous causes of back pain, from muscle spasm to disc problems to bone deformities. And there are almost as many kinds of treatments, from massage and acupuncture to steroid injections to surgery.

Our little Nurse Tip page is not big enough to provide an overview of all the treatments for back pain, but it’s important to know that according to the Mayo Clinic and recent studies, surgery helps in only a small percentage of cases and can create complications that can be even worse than the original problem.

Our advice is not to rule out surgery altogether, but to think of it as a last resort after trying every other treatment, starting with the least invasive. New studies have shown that acupuncture is very effective for treating back pain.

 For more information about treatments for back pain, check out these websites: Mayo Clinic webpage & Web MD on acupuncture for back pain 

You can follow Everybody Needs A Nurse on Twitter @ENANurse1

image by ginchyqueendangle via flickr

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