Facts About Back Pain

* Three out of four people experience back problems at some point in their lives. One of every three people over the age of 40 will experience major, long-term lifestyle difficulties resulting from back pain. Some will even lose their jobs because of it.

* Back pain is among the most common health problems confronting general practitioners every day.

* Indeed, it is third only in volume to respiratory infection and heart disease. Bad backs are rife, these invisible, agonising destroyers of the ideally painless human state. There are as many as two million Australians suffering the complaint in one form or another as I write.

* In Australia, back pain is an extremely costly medical problem. Fifty to sixty per cent of the work force will suffer from back pain at some time during their careers. It directly affects some 100,000 workers every year at a cost to the economy of at least $1 billion - $4 million per day – by way of workers’ compensation, medical, legal and hospital costs and lost production. In America, the cost may now be as high as $US30 billion annually.

* There are, therefore, also profound economic reasons why more attention should be given to the successful treatment of back pain.

* At present, the overall cost of a laminectomy or spinal fusion in Australia (which is widely perceived to be the only permanent solution for acute back and neck pain), is between $15,000 - $20,000 per patient. Yet statistics reveal that this radical, painful and time-consuming treatment may have a less than 50 per cent chance of permanent success.

* Nesfield’s Treatment is only a tiny fraction of the cost of other surgical treatments. There is no prolonged post-operative recovery period at hospital or at home. The patient is able to return to work immediately after treatment and the treatment offers a strong chance of permanent recovery.