Cures & Treatments & Excuses for Back Pain

Did you know that as many as four out of five people will suffer some kind of significant back pain during their lifetime? But these statistics cannot be truly verified as tens of thousands of people each year also go to their doctors faking back pains in order to get signed off from work on sick leave. In fact, as back pain is so difficult for a doctor to detect, it's the number one excuse for sick leave in the developed world.

Such individuals are often caught out swinging a number 9 iron down at their local golf club or working on their gardens, but these tricksters aside, there are still countless others who genuinely go through agonizing and debilitating problems with their backs, and because many of these genuine sufferers get little 'real' help from their physicians, they often seek alternative treatments and cures for their back pain.

Osteopaths reputation has grown in popularity over the years and they have been deemed by many as miracle workers when it comes to relieving agonizing long-term back problems.

In fact my wife's mother was almost bent in two for 6 months with excruciating lower back pain, and after reluctantly agreeing to visit an Osteopath, she walked out of his surgery with head held high after the very first visit. This was the first time in almost half a year that she was able to stand up straight. It brought tears of joy to her husband's eye at the time.

But it's important to note that there are lots ways to injure a back and there are many places on the back which can be inflicted with ache and hurt. Sadly, there is not a one-treatment-fixes-all remedy, which is why many long time sufferers seek a range of alternative treatments before they are able to alleviate, or cure their problem altogether. Let's now take a look as some of the popular treatments that folks have found to work well for them.

Massage Therapy: In particular Chinese or Thai, but it's very important if you try this method, you find a professional and reputable masseur who has a good understanding of muscle imbalances and how to work on them. For those wanting to try massage should do so with extreme caution, but reports from previous suffers have proved that it can be a very effective treatment for back pains.

Yoga: Yoga is a great exercise for strengthening the lower back and is great as a prevention as well as a cure for back pain. However, yoga, like massage, should not be jumped into without expert guidance. In fact, not all yoga poses will relieve back pain, and some may even aggravate existing pain if you don't know which moves will be most beneficial. Therefore, Yoga should be practiced under the watchful eye of a trained professional and not be attempted for the first time with a home video or a book on the subject.

Acupuncture: There have been studies by the National Institutes of Health which have show that acupuncture can be a very effective treatment for back pain. It's still looked on as doubtful by many in the medical community as modern medicine has not been able to fully explain how acupuncture works. But many western patients have sworn by this ancient Chinese alternative treatment for all kinds of ills.

So, if you are a long time sufferer of back complaints, you might want to take a look at some of the alternative treatments available today, including Osteopaths, Massage, Yoga, Acupuncture, herbal remedies, liniments, special sticking plasters ad infinitum.