{"id":11649,"date":"2024-04-19T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-04-19T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/?p=11649"},"modified":"2024-04-12T04:43:44","modified_gmt":"2024-04-12T04:43:44","slug":"surgery-wont-fix-my-chronic-back-pain-so-what-will","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/surgery-wont-fix-my-chronic-back-pain-so-what-will\/","title":{"rendered":"Surgery won\u2019t fix my chronic back pain, so what will?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n \n Planter Studio\/Shutterstock<\/a><\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\nChristine Lin<\/a>, University of Sydney<\/a><\/em>; Christopher Maher<\/a>, University of Sydney<\/a><\/em>; Fiona Blyth<\/a>, University of Sydney<\/a><\/em>; James Mcauley<\/a>, UNSW Sydney<\/a><\/em>, and Mark Hancock<\/a>, Macquarie University<\/a><\/em><\/span>\n\n

This week\u2019s ABC Four Corners episode Pain Factory<\/a> highlighted that our health system is failing Australians with chronic pain. Patients are receiving costly, ineffective and risky care instead of effective, low-risk treatments for chronic pain. <\/p>\n\n

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The challenge is considering how we might reimagine health-care delivery so the effective and safe treatments for chronic pain are available to millions of Australians who suffer from chronic pain.<\/p>\n\n

One in five<\/a> Australians aged 45 and over have chronic pain (pain lasting three or more months). This costs an estimated A$139 billion a year<\/a>, including $12 billion in direct health-care costs. <\/p>\n\n

The most common complaint among people with chronic pain is low back pain. So what treatments do \u2013 and don\u2019t \u2013 work?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Opioids and invasive procedures<\/h2>\n\n

Treatments offered to people with chronic pain include strong pain medicines such as opioids<\/a> and invasive procedures such as spinal cord stimulators<\/a> or spinal fusion surgery<\/a>. Unfortunately, these treatments have little if any benefit and are associated with a risk of significant harm. <\/p>\n\n

Spinal fusion surgery<\/a> and spinal cord stimulators<\/a> are also extremely costly procedures, costing tens of thousands of dollars each to the health system as well as incurring costs to the individual.<\/p>\n\n

Addressing the contributors to pain<\/h2>\n\n

Recommendations from the latest Australian<\/a> and World Health Organization<\/a> clinical guidelines for low back pain focus on alternatives to drug and surgical treatments such as:<\/p>\n\n