If you’re one of the many who suffer from back pain, but have been unsuccessful with typical treatments like surgery and pain pills, some doctors are trying an innovative approach called functional restoration.
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The idea behind functional restoration is not to necessarily eliminate back pain, but to instead teach patients to manage it—all with the goal of getting people back to living normal lives.
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The program usually consists of a three-week boot camp of sorts for chronic back-pain sufferers who have had disabling pain that lasts more than three months. Tailored workouts help people manage pain flare-ups and improve strength and endurance. (See a sample workout here.) And participants in the program are also counseled on coping with pain and related emotions. The combination of exercising mind and body is key to the treatment, as the goal is to help people change the way they think about pain, and give them hope that there are some things they can do about it. While there are normally only modest improvements in pain, there are reportedly dramatic improvements in mood, flexibility, strength and endurance.
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The program costs about $17,000, which in some cases, could be covered by insurance.
Curated article from:
Wall Street Journal
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