Common Myths About Pain

Anyone who has been treated for pain or knows someone that has been treated for chronic pain has come across things that are simply NOT TRUE! Some of those are listed below:

• Myth: You have to live with pain.
  Reality: This is simply not true. You probably won't be 100% pain free if you have chronic pain, however,if you work at decreasing your pain level, by finding the right health care providers & medications; your pain should be at a level that allows you to function & hopefully earn a living.

• Myth: The doctor didn't find anything wrong, so the pain must be all in my head.¹
  Reality: Pain is always real. Your doctor may not be able to find the cause ofyour pain, but as you know your pain still exists.

• Myth: Rest is the best way to help my back or neck when I'm in pain.¹
  Reality: In regards to chronic pain if you spend your days laying around you will find that your muscles will become weaker, will start waisting away, which can lead to more chronic pain. Don't get me wrong, it is definitely ok to rest during the day as you need to, but you want to make sure that even if you are in a lot of pain you should get up every hour, stretch and walk around a bit.

• Myth: I must be very careful to protect my back to avoid further pain.¹
  Reality: If you have back pain you may want to overprotect your back. If you do this you may be more likely to cause additional injury and therefore pain due to lack of not being in good shape.

• Myth: Narcotics are so bad for you that they must be used cautiously and for short periods, if at all. ²
  Reality: All pain medication, if prescribed by your doctor, can used be safely for a long period of time. The important thing is that you take the medication as prescribed by your doctor, that you see your doctor on a regular basis and report side effects immediately to your doctor.

• Myth: Taking many short-acting narcotic pills is a good means of managing chronic pain.²
  Reality: It is important to use long acting pain meds to manage your chronic pain. The short acting meds may be prescribed for what is known as "break through pain".

• Myth: An MRI is necessary for diagnosing the cause of back pain.¹
  Reality: MRIs are used to determine exactly whereyour pain is coming from. However, an MRI is typically not necessary until some basic treatments have been tried.Many times a physical & medical history taken by a qualified health care professional will reveal the cause of your neck and/or back pain. An MRI is helpful prior to have any kind of injection into your spine and is definitely required prior to having any back or neck surgery.

• Myth: Being overweight doesn’t really contribute to back pain.²
  Reality: If you are overweight, that extra weight will compress your spine, which them squeezes your discs. If there is enough weight or enough pressure on your discs it could cause them to bulge or herniate.

• Myth: If you have back pain you will need surgery.³
  Reality: Fortunately this is not true. Very few people who suffer with back pain will undergo surgery. Spine Universe.com estimates the number to be less than 1 in 1000 back pain patients.

• Myth: Most back pain is caused by a slipped disc. ³
  Reality: Only 1 to 3 percent of low back pain results from herniated, or slipped, discs.

  References:
  Spine-health.com¹
  KathleenBrady.net²
  Spine Universe³