Newsweek - The Great Back Debate

The cover story in Newsweek is about back pain and 'alternative' therapies like acupuncture and massage and chiropractic. Probably what we would consider 'normal' here in Portland.

Part of the article mentions that MSNBC - The Great Back Debate: "The Great Back Debate
Is massage better for you than surgery? As millions of Americans seek relief from this ancient ailment, doctors are trying simpler, less invasive ways to end the agony"

Peep this: "The answer, Carragee and others believe, has as much to do with the mind as it does with the body. In the HIZ study, the best predictor of pain was not how bad the defect looked but the patient's psychological distress. Depression and anxiety have long been linked to pain; a recent Canadian study found that people who suffer from severe depression are four times more likely to develop intense or disabling neck or low-back pain."

So, wtf am i supposed to do when having the continued lower back pain causes more depression which causes continued back pain which causes ... ad nauseum?

A sidebar - not on the web - entitled "Don't Fear Pain" says "if you avoid doing the things you love, it won't help you get better and you could become depressed."

It's all bullshit! It's all lies! It's a Gordian fucking knot and I'm going chop the mother fucker in half someday soon. Also, the sleeping pills seem to be losing their effectiveness, and my insomnia is leading to further back pain, which is leading to more depression, which is exacerbating the insomnia, et fucking cetera.