Treat Your Back Without Surgery: The Best Nonsurgical Alternatives for Eliminating Back and Neck Pain » (2ND)

Treat Your Back Without Surgery is based on the acclaimed Texas Back Institute’s successful nonsurgical treatments for back injuries. Providing proven exercises and natural healing techniques, this book helps readers diagnose back problems and relieve pain noninvasively. Also included are black-and-white photos, illustrations, back surgery benefits and risks, and an updated resource section.

Contents

Preface....................ix
Acknowledgments....................x
Part I: Understanding Back and Neck Pain....................1
Chapter 1 * How You Can Benefit from this Book....................2
The "80 Percent" Rule for Back and Neck Pain....................3
Pain Relief, then Prevention....................4
Can My Back Pain Go Away with Exercise?....................4
Who Is at High Risk for a Back Attack?....................5
What You Will Learn from this Book....................5
Becoming Informed....................6
The Authors' Perspectives....................7
Chapter 2 * How Your Back Works and What Can Go Wrong with It....................9
Understanding How Your Spine Works....................11
Understanding How Your Back Muscles Work....................14
What Causes Back and Neck Pain....................16
Back Problems that May Require Surgery....................19
Part II: Back Care and Treatment....................25
Chapter 3 * Mainstream Ways to Treat Your Back on Your Own....................26
First Aid Remedies for Back Pain....................27
Exercise....................29
Exercises to Relieve Back and Neck Pain....................34
Neck Exercises....................47
Exercises to Do at Work or at Play....................51
Chapter 4 * Mainstream Professional Remedies....................55
Physical Therapy....................56
Specialized Rehabilitation Equipment....................58
Group Back Schools and Other Back Education....................60
Chiropractic....................61
Injections....................64
Orthotrac: A Potential NonsurgicalAlternative to Back Surgery....................66
Lumbar Corsets, Traction, Braces, Etc....................67
Chapter 5 * Nonsurgical Cures....................68
Healing with Touch....................71
Biofeedback....................72
Back Pain Caused by Tension....................73
Prolotherapy....................74
Metals and Magnets....................74
Body Work....................75
Chinese Medicine....................78
Pain Relief from India....................88
A Final Thought about Alternative Medicine....................90
Chapter 6 * Preventing Back Pain....................91
Are Certain Occupations High Risk for Back Pain?....................93
Smoking and Back Pain....................94
Stress and Job Satisfaction....................95
Depression....................95
Body Build, Breast Size, and Lifestyle Issues....................96
Posture and Ergonomic Issues....................97
Two Good Ways to Lift and One Way that Is Sure to Wreak Havoc....................98
Corsets and Back Belts....................103
Rotational Sports....................104
High-Impact Sports....................105
Sleeping Without Strain....................106
The Pillow: A Head Start to Better Sleep....................107
Four Ways to Lower Your Risk of Back or Neck Pain....................107
Chapter 7 * When Should You See a Doctor?....................109
Can You Diagnose Yourself?....................110
When Should You Go to the Emergency Room?....................111
Doctors' Biases....................113
What Kind of Back Doctor Should You See for an Attack of Acute Pain?....................114
What Kind of Back Doctor Should You See for Complex Symptoms?....................116
How Important Is the Doctor's Personality?....................117
Government Guidelines on Treatment....................119
What Kinds of Things Are Done in the Doctor Exam?....................119
Diagnostic Tests Doctors Do for Back and Neck Pain....................120
Chapter 8 * IntraDiscal Electrothermal Therapy (IDET), a New, Minimally Invasive Alternative to Fusion Surgery....................124
What is IDET?....................125
Who Is a Candidate for IDET?....................129
The Results: Pain Can Linger....................130
Chapter 9 * The Pros and Cons of Back Surgery....................132
What's So Bad about Surgery?....................134
Excessive Surgeries....................136
Back Surgery in Other Cultures....................137
Do You Need Back Surgery?....................141
Surgery May Be Appropriate When....................142
Surgery May Not Be Appropriate When....................142
Chapter 10 * What Actually Happens in Back Surgery?....................144
Types of Back Surgery....................144
The Latest Advances in Spine Surgery....................149
New Technology and Instrumentation....................150
Multiple Spine Surgeries....................152
Recovery after Spine Surgery....................152
Chapter 11 * New Technology Promises Relief for the Millions with Degenerative Disc Disease....................154
Disc, Joint, or Soft Tissue Pain?....................155
Who Has Bad Discs?....................155
What Happens When a Disc Degenerates?....................156
An Alternative to Fusion: The Artificial Disc....................157
Other Innovations for Back Pain Coming this Decade....................164
Other Medical Innovations on the Horizon....................165
Innovations that Enhance Bone Healing and Fusion....................166
Osteoplasty and Kyphoplasty: New Treatments for Spine Fractures....................167
A New Option for Compression Fractures....................169
Pilates....................169
Chapter 12 * Finding the Best Surgeon....................171
Choosing a Hospital....................172
Checking Out a Doctor's Record....................173
Neurosurgeons Versus Orthopedic Surgeons....................174
Discussing Your Case....................176
Getting a Second Opinion....................176
Some Quick Tips for Evaluating Physicians....................176
A Few Questions to Ask the Doctor....................177
Chapter 13 * What to Do with Pain that Won't Go Away....................179
The Difficulty of Treating Something You Can't See....................181
Treating Chronic Pain....................182
Pain Clinics....................183
Chapter 14 * Making Yourself an Informed Consumer....................191
Need Back Surgery? Get a Second Opinion....................192
Volume Credentialing....................193
The Age of the Enlightened Consumer....................193
Some Final Thoughts....................194
Resources....................196
Health-Care Information on the Internet....................196
Informative Spine Websites....................196
General Health-Care Information Sites....................197
Other Sites....................198
Resources for Someone Suffering from Chronic Pain....................200
Checking Out a Physician's Record....................201
Other Resources....................201
Notes....................203
Index....................206