Most Older Adults' Back Pain Remains Unchanged After Five Years

A survey of 675 people 55 and older in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine found 57 percent of older adults said their back pain had not gotten better in the five years after initially presenting to their general practitioner, reports Healio . Most subjects also discontinued advice from their medical professional during that period. University of California, Los Angeles Professor Obidiugwu K. Duru suggested some subjects may simply give up and accept their pain rather than seek alternative therapies. Duru said doctors must encourage more healthy living among older people to avoid constant pain throughout their lives. Meanwhile, the Tufts Medical Center's Ron Riesenburger said general practitioners "should strongly consider referring persons with back pain of over three months to an institution with a spine center, which typically consists of a team of non-operative and operative spine specialists working together to treat back pain."