Full Title: Decompression, Reduction, and Stabilization of the Lumbar Spine: A Cost-Effective Treatment for Lumbosacral Pain
Authors: Shealy,MD,PhD -Borgmeyer
Affiliation: Duke University-Harvard Fellow
Publication: American Journal of Pain Management
Introduction: Pain in the lumbosacral spine is the most common of all pain complaints. It causes loss of work and is the single most common cause of disability in persons under 45 years of age. Back pain is the most dollar-costly industrial problem. Pain clinics originated over 30 years ago, in large part, because of the numbers of chronic back pain patients. Interestingly, despite patients’ reporting good results using “upside-down gravity boots,” and commenting on how good stretching made them feel, traction as a primary treatment has been overlooked while very expensive and invasive treatments have dominated the management of low back pain.