I wasn’t part of the government-funded studies on back surgery for herniated disks in the lower spine, mentioned in Saturday’s “Editorial sketchbook” (“Watching and waiting for answers on back pain”).
But I can report that after two years and two hospitalizations for increasingly debilitating symptoms of a herniated lumbar disc, including chiropractic care that offered only temporary relief, I finally underwent back surgery. The immediate relief of the pain and all symptoms was wonderful and has lasted nearly nine years.
I know not everybody has the same results, but I wouldn’t hesitate to include surgery as an option for dealing with herniated discs.
MARSHA SCHAUER, Northeast Portland
In my experience, back-pain sufferers often fail to do everything they can to alleviate their suffering. People want a “quick fix” and fail to make lifestyle changes that require discipline.
Weight loss, core and abdominal muscle strengthening through exercise (such as Pilates), back-strengthening exercises and improved flexibility through stretching (yoga) require a daily commitment to healing.
Learning proper body mechanics for lifting and moving helps. Medications (anti-inflammatories and narcotics) can be a temporary adjunct, but also come with potentially debilitating side effects.
There are no short cuts to health. Money cannot buy the self-discipline required to implement a program of self-care. Free resources abound at every public library (books and videos). The book “Mayo Clinic on Chronic Pain” (froogle link) is a great starting place. The important thing is to begin, then keep up the effort over time.
Kate Gregory, Family nurse practitioner
I read with interest your description of the agony of uncertainty surrounding herniated disks.
The cure for such indecision is a skilled primary care physician who keeps abreast of the evidence-based medicine regarding one’s condition and who can distill the science into lay language.
I wonder if Americans realize the extent to which physician compensation, driven by government payments favoring technology-intensive, invasive specialist care, feeds that uncertainty by making primary care the worst-paid field a physician can choose.
As a medical student at Oregon Health & Science University, it is my privilege to study with incredible family practice and internal medicine physicians, whose broad knowledge and diagnostic acumen is accompanied by communication (and negotiation) skills that can lift a great part of the weight of uncertainty from the suffering patient.
But there will not be enough of them as long as we pay specialists such as radiologists, dermatologists and vascular surgeons four and five times as much.
Robert Farrell