Low back pain is one of the most common complaints that I have encountered in recent days and that I see that cause more and more early referrals. So much so that it started to make up almost 90% of daily admissions to the neurosurgery outpatient clinic. “Why does it frighten our people so much?” I started to think.
The first thing that comes to my mind is that local people deal with more physically demanding jobs? is happening. However, it happens that applications are more common in people with limited activity. Especially the housewives, who did not have a clear occupation, also came with the complaints of low back pain.
The second reason was that many of the incoming cases said the same words. They described the place where they experienced pain as the center of my soul. In other words, they applied because the pain was quite severe. Some of these cases were believable.
Some of them applied on the second day as soon as they experienced their complaints. When asked why they applied so early, they spoke of their fears. They said that they applied because of what they heard wrongly and because of their fear of being disabled and because of misdirection. However, most of these cases I observed were not psychologically sound. Their pain thresholds were low due to their very sensitive psychological state. In other words, they perceived mild stimuli or pain that would be considered mild, which many people could not tolerate or even perceive, more strongly. (they were feeling)
Another reason for the applications I refer to as early or ultra-fast was the misdirection of the media. Especially in recent years, the disaster scenarios or the disaster-mongering cause people to be even more afraid than before. Therefore, is the smallest positive sign they feel in their bodies a very bad thing, for example, cancer? If we look inside, what is this place of my waist, my head, etc.? It caused them to run to the doctor very quickly with such thoughts. As a result, the one with pain ran..
Actually, it was not increased back pain in our people, it was increased information pollution and unconsciousness. It was not related to culture or to a literate university degree. The applicants with the complaint of low back pain were also from all segments of the society. In fact, those who did a little research on the internet were more confused. The examination and the words spoken were not enough to convince these cases. The requests were always the same, and expensive examinations such as MRI were requested.
As a neurosurgeon, while it is appropriate to take such a film when deciding on the surgical indication, we are now more and more confronted with the requests or demands of MRI from people whose lower back aches for 1-2 days due to unavoidable reasons. We are certainly there to reduce their concerns, but the frequent positive pain in the community causes more hospital admissions.
Result; We wish our society to become more aware of these issues and not to waste our opportunities..
