As the nation attempts to move beyond the powerful testimonies of Olympic and college athletes who spoke out against a team physician who violated those who were supposed to trust him, it should come as no surprise that there will be renewed attention given to selecting caring, trustworthy caregivers.
What do you look for when you get ready to seek treatment from physical therapists and occupational therapists? The courtroom in Michigan that allowed victims to confront the man who violated them is a definite reminder of how important it is to trust the people who care for the most vulnerable patients. Any patients who are seeking treatments for chronic pain or other difficult situations need to be especially careful about the choices that they make. And while most people want to avoid even minimally invasive spine surgery it should come as no surprise that many patients consider all of their options before they make any decision.
From chronic back pain to joint pain, many Americans deal with pain that keeps them from living the kind of life that they want to live and doing the things that they love the most. If you suffer from severe pain or are searching for treatments for chronic pain, it might be important to remember the following information about the type of pain that many people face:
- 90% of bulging discs occur in the lower back.
- Not surprising, 59% of chronic-pain sufferers reported an impact on their overall enjoyment of life.
- Degenerative disc disease (DDD) is fairly common. In fact, an estimated 30% of people between the ages of 30 and 50 years old will have some degree of disc space degeneration.
- The three spinal regions where a bulging disc can originate are cervical (upper), thoracic (middle), and lumbar (lower).
- 80% of adults experience low back pain at some point in their lifetimes, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
- 10% of people worldwide are afflicted with lower back pain, making it the world?s leading cause of disability, according to a recent study by the Annals of Rheumatic Diseases.
We live in troubling times. The fact that a high profile case just found a doctor guilty of taking advantage of his patients under the guise of legitimate treatments means that everyone needs to make sure that they thoroughly research the doctors who they visit.
