We are interested today in an evil of our time, back pain, with Sophie Coisne who supervised the special issue of the magazine 60 Million consumers. A very complete file of 120 pages which has just come out, reveals all the false beliefs and ideas received on back pain, and also guides us to fight effectively against this physical suffering.
franceinfo: Back pain, you show that it is a very widespread problem today, and especially when you suffer from it, you are a little lost. There are many beliefs, people to fight?
Sophie Coisne: So indeed, it is said that 84% of the French population suffers or will suffer one day from the back. So it’s very common. And the problem is that often, when you have back pain, you have beliefs that will slow healing. And one of the big beliefs to fight is related to the fear of moving. Ah, I have a very bad back and it will get worse if I move, if I make the slightest movement.
And in fact, it’s quite the opposite. Movement, physical exercise, as we know today, is the key to curing the majority of back problems. And even if it hurts, you have to move a little. So, not doing intensive sports, but walking, moving your arms, etc. On the other hand, you have to make the right moves. For example, doing sit-ups and planking won’t help you build a strong back.
Hunt for beliefs, hunt for merchants of dreams too. This is one of the messages you want to convey. Why ?
But yes, because you know, pain makes us fragile. And we are so anxious to get rid of our back pain that we are ready to accept anything and everything, to test everything, to buy everything, including a certain number of products which are highly praised on the Internet and which are completely ineffective.
Exactly, you have tested a lot of products and if we have to sort out, which are good and which are useless, or even scams?
So indeed, we asked experts to evaluate about sixty products to improve posture, massage, move, sleep, treat yourself without a prescription. And of these 60 products, there are only 21 that are of interest, so one out of three.
So those that are of interest, for the most part, are objects that allow the body to get moving again. We always come back to this essential. So a gym ball, a rowing machine, a gym stick, rubber bands and conversely, many objects are ineffective.
And we have never proven, by reliable and serious scientific studies, that they could be useful. This is the case, for example, with posture corrector T-shirts or the magnetic lumbar belt. Magnetism is attractive like that in the idea, but it doesn’t work.
After a while, if the back pain becomes chronic, you have to go see a doctor, a health professional. But the question to ask is which one? Because we are spoiled for choice…
Indeed, we are spoiled for choice. Chronic back pain is back pain that will last more than three months. This is the case for one patient in 20 who has back pain. Treatment should be multidisciplinary. The patient must both do rehabilitation exercises with a physiotherapist, in the form of active exercises. Not massages, but really exercises where we mobilize the muscles. In general, psychological work also to fight against stress, anxiety, work on the person’s experience, because it also acts on the back and pain.
And also that the patient learn the right gestures to spare his back and so that there is no recurrence. So, all that is often orchestrated first by the attending physician, who sends the patient to certain hospital departments that set up this whole multidisciplinary team or to a back school. So, you will ask me: how do we know that a back school is reliable? Well, it’s very simple. If the structure offers you physical activity as the main treatment, it is a reliable structure.
And if, after all these treatments, the back pain really does not pass. As a last resort what you are talking about is surgery. In which cases is it necessary to opt for surgery?
It should be kept in mind that surgery should only happen as a last resort, after rehabilitation, and after failure of well-conducted medical treatment. When you have exhausted all options, do not hesitate to ask the doctor or the surgeon about the success rates of the proposed surgery and about these risks. And just because you’re not a health expert doesn’t mean you can’t use your critical mind, even when it’s surgeons talking to you.