Doctors and Spine specialists most commonly classify back pain as either Acute or Chronic.
Acute (short term): Is an episode of back pain that does not last more than 4 weeks.
Most acute pains are caused by a sudden injury to the muscles or ligaments supporting the back.
Many episodes of acute pain will subside automatically given adequate rest and precautions.
Chronic (long term): Is a pain that extends beyond the expected period of healing.
Clinically it is defined as pain that lasts for 3 months or more.
It often progresses gradually and the cause is difficult to determine in the vast majority of cases.
Chronic pain has the potential to cause serious disability in leading a normal productive life and an accurate diagnosis is critical to ensuring effective treatment that gets the patient back to a functional.
Pain-free state.
The American College of Physician recommends that a Spine specialist involved in the diagnosis and treatment of pain, should attempt to categories chronic back pain into 3 categories: Non-specific low back pain: For which the spine specialist doctors cannot identify the exact underlying cause.
At least 85% of all pain cases are clinically classified as 'non- specific in nature.
MRl's and other imaging tests fail to help spine specialist to arrive at a precise diagnosis, and therefore a vast majority of pain sufferers continue to suffer without an effective treatment based on a precise diagnosis.
Low back pain associated with radiculopathy or spinal stenosis: Radiculopathy and spinal stenosis are specific causes of pain that may be identified through a complete physical evaluation of the spine and imaging tests like MRI.
However, these two specific causes arc estimated to cause not more than 8%-I 5% of all pain cases.
Standard treatment for such cases can range from physical therapy and exercise to medication.
Other forms of specific low back pain: These comprise causes like tumors, Cancers, and disorders of certain organs not associated with the spine.
These cases are estimated to comprise no more than 2% of all pain cases.
Thus, not more than 8 out of 10 sufferers of chronic pain worldwide clinicians are unable to determine a specific cause.
The challenge facing the medical community is to evolve a new diagnostic tool or protocol which precisely determines the root cause of the so-called 'non - specific' cases.
This will pave the way for specific and effective treatment for the overwhelming majority of people struck by debilitating long-term pain.