Unnecessary Spinal Surgery Will Waste Billions of Dollars in 2009 and Patients Will Continue to Suffer Unless the Primary Cause of Most Back Pain is Treated, Says Pain Specialist Norman Ma...(studies) prompting a new diagnostic cate...),Health

Dr. Marcus notes that most MRIs of the low back are read as abnormal, frequently with herniated or bulging disks, and that as many as 50 percent of people with herniated disks have no back pain, while as many as 70 percent of those with degenerated lumbar disks have no pain. He cautions that, conversely, discovering herniated or degenerated disks in the spine of a patient in pain should never automatically lead to the assumption that the pain is originating from those disks.

"Reliance on invasive techniques, such as spinal fusions, and implanting spinal cord stimulators and morphine pumps without even determining if there is a muscle component can result in surgeries that are doomed to fail and to prolonged suffering," says Dr. Marcus.

Dr. Marcus says he owes both his recognition that muscle weakness, stiffness, tension and hardened knots (trigger points) are the primary causes of back pain, and his non-surgical pain elimination treatments to the five years he spent working alongside the late and legendary Dr. Hans Kraus.

Dr. Kraus was the physician and rehabilitation specialist who eliminated most of President John F. Kennedy's crippling back pain, is recognized as the father of sports medicine in America, developed landmark tests that evaluate muscle strength and flexibility and a series of exercises to correct muscle weakness and stiffness, and was responsible for the largest and most successful back treatment program ever conducted.

Dr. Marcus says he is not "a surgical nihilist" and has prescribed back surgery when it was clearly indicated.

He says he believes that sharing his new approaches to the evaluation and treatment of muscles with his medical colleagues could lead to more effective treatments for the majority of back pain patients
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