Fred Cassi knows a lot of things. He's like a walking encyclopedia. Ever since we were kids he'd have the most interesting facts and stories. He'd tell us about astronauts, sunken treasure, ancient history, aviation, you name it. Some of the other kids used to call him "the whiz" because he always had interesting facts at his fingertips.
I ran into Fred a couple of days ago after not seeing him for several years and he still knows a lot of things. Neither of us were very busy so we sat down together for coffee. Fred was telling me about how he'd hurt his back a couple of years ago. He said it was the strangest thing. All he was doing was pushing his young daughter on a swing he'd hung from a tree for her in the back yard. Starting out, everything was fine. Then, with one little push, he felt like he couldn't even stand. He slowly made his way to the house in tremendous pain and had his wife drive him to the emergency room. He'd never even had a twinge of spinal pain before that day.
He went on to explain the ordeal of suffering he experienced over the months following the lower back injury. He talked about the lost time from work, the constant pain, treatments that did little to relieve the pain, and the ineffective therapy sessions. He said that there came a point where he wasn't sure he could go on, or that he wanted to. And finally, he told me how he ended up getting complete relief of the constant pain. But before I explain that, I'd like to tell you some of the things Fred told me about back injuries. I was amazed with the information but not a bit surprised that Fred had it.
- In 1998 medical costs to treat lower back injuries in the United States were $26,000,000,000 (26 Billion Dollars).
- In the same year lost productivity due to back injuries of workers from age 40 to age 65 amounted to $7,400,000,000 (7.4 Billion Dollars).
- More than 85% of patients who first visit primary care physicians have nonspecific lower back pain (LBP), or pain that is not easily associated to a specific disease.
- In the United States lower back pain is the most common reason for admission to a hospital.
- By age 50, 10% of the population shows mild disc degeneration. By age 70, 60% of vertebral discs are severely degenerated.
- Lower back pain is the second most common complaint and reason for an individual to visit a doctor.
- Lower back injuries are the most expensive work related injuries in the U.S.
- Lower back injuries are the third most common reasons for surgery in America.
- Leg pain or mechanical LBP accounts for 97% of all cases of LBP.
- Recent evidence suggests that up to 60 percent of people suffering from lower back injuries experience one or more relapses.
He went on to say that the treatment of spinal problems is a huge drag on productivity in the workplace and it has a direct effect on the economy of the United States. I wasn't surprised at how much he knew. Since he didn't seem to be experiencing any discomfort while we were talking I asked him how he got well. As usual, he was a fountain of information on this as well.
Fred described a relatively new treatment for sufferers of all types of spinal pain, from the neck to the lower back. It's called spinal decompression. He explained that one thing common to most suffering is that the spine becomes compressed, meaning the vertebrae move closer together causing undue tension on surrounding muscles and the spinal nerve. He also mentioned that the vertebrae sometimes become misaligned. What spinal decompression does is separates the vertebrae releasing the tension. Here's how they do it.
A patient is secured firmly to a platform called a decompression table using padded blocks and straps. It's very important that he or she remains immobilized for the treatment to work. Once in place the table moves slowly and gently, separating the vertebrae and releasing the tension. He even said that the patient or an attendant has a safety switch incase the table were to cause any pain. Fred told me that once he found out about spinal decompression and got going with treatments, he was on the way to getting his life back. You could see he was enthusiastic about the technology.
Finally, he told me that spinal decompression was almost like a miracle for people suffering from a wide range of spinal problems. It's used to treat sciatica, herniated discs, arm and leg pain and tingling associated with spinal problems, degenerative disc disease and sometimes spinal stenosis. Man, did he know a lot. But then, the whiz always has
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