To the surprise of doctors and patients alike, accumulating research suggests that most chronic back pain isn't actually the result of illness or injury. Study after study indicates instead that back pain is very often caused by our thoughts, feelings, and resulting behaviors. And an exciting new study now demonstrates that treatments aimed at our beliefs and attitudes can really help.
When our back hurts, it's only natural to assume that we've suffered an injury or have a disease. After all, most pain works this way. When we cut our finger, we see blood and feel pain. When our throat hurts, it's usually because of an infection.
But back pain is different. There simply isn't a close connection between the condition of the spine and whether or not people experience pain. Research has shown that a majority of people who have never had any significant back pain have the very same "abnormalities" (such as bulging or herniated spinal discs) that are frequently blamed for chronic back conditions. And then there are the millions of people with severe chronic back pain who show no structural abnormalities in their back at all.
On top of this, it turns out that people in developing countries, who do back-breaking labor and don't have easy access to medical treatment, have much fewer incidents of chronic back pain than people in the developed world who sit in ergonomically designed chairs, sleep on fancy mattresses, and have ready access to spinal imaging, surgery, and medications.
Because there's so little correlation between the condition of the spine and any given person's experience with back pain, clinicians and researchers have begun looking instead at treatments that address the psychological and behavioral patterns that can lock people into years of suffering. And they've just demonstrated that two of these treatments work much better than traditional medical interventions alone.
