If you're like many patients we've seen over the years, you've probably tried several prescribed remedies to help ease your chronic pain. These may include bed rest, medication, chiropractic, acupuncture, physical therapy or injections. Like so many others, you may be frustrated and have come to the realization that you may just have to learn to live with the pain. (Even your family doctor may say those exact words to you.) After trying and failing with everything else, perhaps you're even considering surgery as a last attempt to end your suffering.

• U.S. surgeons perform more than a half-million surgical procedures on the back every year
• Back surgery is performed in the United States at a rate 40% higher than in eleven other developed countries and at five times the rate performed in England and Scotland
• The majority of back surgeries are unsuccessful. (And some studies indicate the success rate at less than 60%.) Once you have back surgery, the chances of needing a second surgery are very high
• Approximately 25,000 to 50,000 documented "failed back surgery syndrome" cases occur each year
• A study published in the medical journal SPINE followed 109 patients for 12 years after back surgery. They found that satisfactory results were found in only 64% of the patients, while 28% complained of significant back or leg pain, and 7.3% had a repeat operation
• Another, larger study, also published in SPINE, followed the long-term results of 575 back surgery patients. According to the study, 70% still complained of back pain. Of those; 83% experienced constant heavy pain, 45% residual sciatica, 47% received some form of disability, and 17% required a repeat surgery

Suffering from low back pain? You're not alone. Far from it. Just look at the following statistics:

• 80-90% of all adults will suffer with low back pain at some time in their life
• lower back pain is the leading cause of disability for people under 45 years of age
• lower back pain is the second leading cause of visits to doctors' offices
• lower back pain is the third leading reason for hospital admissions
• annual costs of back pain range from $20-$75 billion in the U.S. alone
• studies indicate that 15-20% of the population have lower back pain in any given year... approximately 32 million cases.

One of the biggest "accepted" myths about back pain is that it goes away all by itself, without any treatment.

And most doctors believe the claim that 90% of all episodes of low back pain will resolve within one month. But a May 1998 study in the British Medical Journal that followed the progress of a widespread sample of back pain patients' conditions 12 months after their initial medical consultation, found that only one out of four patients saw their pain resolved. Sadly, three out of four continued to suffer.

Also, a recent review published in the European Spine Journal in 2003, showed that the reported proportion of patients who still experienced pain after 12 months was 62% (range, 42-75%), dispelling the popular notion that up to 90% of low back pain episodes resolve spontaneously within 1 month.

There is also a large number of Americans who after trying many standard treatments are still left suffering with serious back pain. If you, your friends or your family members have been told you have to learn to live with the pain or if you have tried exercises, drugs and/or shots, and you are still suffering, and are now being told you need surgery, then this therapy may be just what you are looking for.