The Role of Psychological Factors in Back Pain

There is much to be said for reducing the stress load in one’s life when trying to deal with chronic back pain.

Stanford University researchers studied 96 people with high-risk factors for disc degeneration, to measure the psychological factors on back pain. Surprisingly they found that people at high-risk for disc degeneration were only slightly more likely to experience back pain during normal activity than people without obvious disc problems. In fact, 25 percent of the high-risk group had no corresponding symptoms of low back pain!

This meant to the Stanford researchers that doctors should know that damaged discs do not automatically mean that the patient is experiencing pain, and also if pain is present, surgery will not necessarily eliminate it because of the stress factors in the patient’s life.

A better predictor of pain, they found, is an abnormal result on psychometric testing. Basically, that the amount of discomfort that people have is related to their ability to handle stress. Said lead Stanford researcher Dr. Eugene Carragee, “People with poor coping skills…are more likely to perceive discography as painful and to have symptoms of low back pain during their daily activities.”

The results suggest that physicians must be acutely aware of the emotional or psychological factors that may be affecting how patients perceive their back pain.

Pain is Not Just Physical

Our philosophy on healthcare is to assist our patients in their healing process on many levels beyond just the physical.

Although our training teaches us to focus on the physical body as the cause of pain and disease, we have found that many of our physical problems stem from and are modulated by emotional, mental, psychological, and spiritual issues.

Not all people heal on the same schedule or in the same way. We provide a healing model with a loving environment. We don’t deal in disease; we deal in healing, which is an active process. Our patients are taught to create the concept and feeling of health. We often have to remove a person’s diagnosis that he or she has been branded with by other doctors.

Pain does not mean that a person is broken. X-rays and MRI scans frequently do not tell the truth. A common response from patients is “I can’t believe this is a medical office. You are all so understanding and supportive.” Many of our patients have been to a multitude of other doctors. We need to be different to make the difference.

● Read about Dr. Darrow’s back pain

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