08/26/2026
Finally, Some Good News About Back Pain.🗣️And, How OrthoSport Can Help.😃
Back pain is a huge problem in developed nations worldwide. It has or will affect most of us. The current estimate is that 80% of people will experience back pain at least once. It is the single biggest cause for disability, the third most common reason for doctor visits and one of the most common reasons for missing work.
It's also expensive. Back and neck pain makes up the biggest healthcare expense in the US, totaling $134 billion spent in 2016. The next two most expensive conditions were diabetes — $111 billion in spending - and heart disease at $89 billion.
Diabetes and heart disease being so expensive to treat doesn't surprise most. They can both lead to other major problems, require long term medication, require surgery and both can be fatal. Back pain won't kill you, usually doesn't require long term medication and usually doesn't require surgery either. Why is it so expensive?
The first reason is that it's so common. The second reason is that our current system isn't very good at treating it. Current recommendations include starting with activity modification and active treatments like physical therapy. Research backs this up, showing better outcomes and lower costs with Early PT.
Unfortunately, only 2% of people with back pain start with PT and only 7% get to PT within 90 days. At the same time, a study looking at about 2.5 million people with back pain in JAMA showed that 32.3% of these patients received imaging within 30 days of diagnosis. 35.3% received imaging without a trial of physical therapy. Both of these things go against current practice guidelines for treatment.
Did you know OrthoSport Specializes in Manual Therapy? This is defined as a physical treatment to treat neural and musculoskeletal pain, dysfunction and disability. This includes the treatment of joint manipulation and mobilization, spine manipulation and mobilization as well as soft tissue mobilization. See some statistics below.
A 2024 randomized study of 60 people with chronic nonspecific Lower Back Pain compared Manual Therapy (MT) to Supervised Exercise over 6 weeks
Disability: reduced by 70% in MT group vs. 78% in exercise group
Pain: reduced by 78% in MT group vs. 68% in exercise group.
Spinal mobility: +40% after MT vs. +38% after exercise.
These results indicate that MT can achieve large, statistically significant improvements in both pain and function.
Start with a visit with the physical therapists at OrthoSport to assess and create a plan for your back pain.
Give us a call ☎️or visit us online. 💻 We are always here to help.
www.orthosportonline.com
