Crooked: Outwitting the Back Pain Industry and Getting on the Road to Recovery

The acclaimed author of Carved in Sand—a veteran investigative journalist who endured persistent back pain for decades—delivers the definitive book on the subject: an essential examination of all facets of the back pain industry, exploring what works, what doesn't, what may cause harm, and how to get on the road to recovery.

In her effort to manage her chronic back pain, investigative reporter Cathryn Jakobson Ramin spent years and a small fortune on a panoply of treatments. But her discomfort only intensified, leaving her feeling frustrated and perplexed. As she searched for better solutions, she exposed a much bigger problem. Costing roughly $100 billion a year, spine medicine—often ineffective and sometimes harmful —exemplified the worst aspects of the U.S. health care system.

The result of six years of intensive investigation, Crooked offers a startling look at the poorly identified risks of spine medicine, and provides practical advice and solutions. Ramin interviewed scores of spine surgeons, pain management doctors, physical medicine and rehabilitation physicians, exercise physiologists, physical therapists, chiropractors, specialized bodywork practitioners. She met with many patients whose pain and desperation led them to make life-altering decisions, and with others who triumphed over their limitations.

The result is a brilliant and comprehensive book that is not only important but essential to millions of back pain sufferers, and all types of health care professionals. Ramin shatters assumptions about surgery, chiropractic methods, physical therapy, spinal injections and painkillers, and addresses evidence-based rehabilitation options—showing, in detail, how to avoid therapeutic dead ends, while saving money, time, and considerable anguish. With Crooked, she reveals what it takes to outwit the back pain industry and get on the road to recovery.

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Crooked: Outwitting the Back Pain Industry and Getting on the Road to Recovery

The acclaimed author of Carved in Sand—a veteran investigative journalist who endured persistent back pain for decades—delivers the definitive book on the subject: an essential examination of all facets of the back pain industry, exploring what works, what doesn't, what may cause harm, and how to get on the road to recovery.

In her effort to manage her chronic back pain, investigative reporter Cathryn Jakobson Ramin spent years and a small fortune on a panoply of treatments. But her discomfort only intensified, leaving her feeling frustrated and perplexed. As she searched for better solutions, she exposed a much bigger problem. Costing roughly $100 billion a year, spine medicine—often ineffective and sometimes harmful —exemplified the worst aspects of the U.S. health care system.

The result of six years of intensive investigation, Crooked offers a startling look at the poorly identified risks of spine medicine, and provides practical advice and solutions. Ramin interviewed scores of spine surgeons, pain management doctors, physical medicine and rehabilitation physicians, exercise physiologists, physical therapists, chiropractors, specialized bodywork practitioners. She met with many patients whose pain and desperation led them to make life-altering decisions, and with others who triumphed over their limitations.

The result is a brilliant and comprehensive book that is not only important but essential to millions of back pain sufferers, and all types of health care professionals. Ramin shatters assumptions about surgery, chiropractic methods, physical therapy, spinal injections and painkillers, and addresses evidence-based rehabilitation options—showing, in detail, how to avoid therapeutic dead ends, while saving money, time, and considerable anguish. With Crooked, she reveals what it takes to outwit the back pain industry and get on the road to recovery.

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Crooked: Outwitting the Back Pain Industry and Getting on the Road to Recovery

Crooked: Outwitting the Back Pain Industry and Getting on the Road to Recovery

by Murilo Huff
Crooked: Outwitting the Back Pain Industry and Getting on the Road to Recovery

Crooked: Outwitting the Back Pain Industry and Getting on the Road to Recovery

by Murilo Huff

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Overview

The acclaimed author of Carved in Sand—a veteran investigative journalist who endured persistent back pain for decades—delivers the definitive book on the subject: an essential examination of all facets of the back pain industry, exploring what works, what doesn't, what may cause harm, and how to get on the road to recovery.

In her effort to manage her chronic back pain, investigative reporter Cathryn Jakobson Ramin spent years and a small fortune on a panoply of treatments. But her discomfort only intensified, leaving her feeling frustrated and perplexed. As she searched for better solutions, she exposed a much bigger problem. Costing roughly $100 billion a year, spine medicine—often ineffective and sometimes harmful —exemplified the worst aspects of the U.S. health care system.

The result of six years of intensive investigation, Crooked offers a startling look at the poorly identified risks of spine medicine, and provides practical advice and solutions. Ramin interviewed scores of spine surgeons, pain management doctors, physical medicine and rehabilitation physicians, exercise physiologists, physical therapists, chiropractors, specialized bodywork practitioners. She met with many patients whose pain and desperation led them to make life-altering decisions, and with others who triumphed over their limitations.

The result is a brilliant and comprehensive book that is not only important but essential to millions of back pain sufferers, and all types of health care professionals. Ramin shatters assumptions about surgery, chiropractic methods, physical therapy, spinal injections and painkillers, and addresses evidence-based rehabilitation options—showing, in detail, how to avoid therapeutic dead ends, while saving money, time, and considerable anguish. With Crooked, she reveals what it takes to outwit the back pain industry and get on the road to recovery.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780062641793
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date: 05/08/2018
Pages: 432
Sales rank: 70,248
Product dimensions: 5.31(w) x 8.00(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Investigative journalist Cathryn Jakobson Ramin is the author of Carved in Sand: When Attention Fails and Memory Fades in Midlife, published by HarperCollins in 2007. Her new book about the back pain industry, Crooked, will be published in April 2017.  She’s written for many national magazines on topics that include healthcare, neuroscience, business, public policy,  travel, art, design and culture.  A popular speaker, these days, she’s booking lectures that enlighten patients,  health care practitioners, corporations and medical facilities about how to manage back pain. Cathryn is married to Ron Ramin, a music composer. They have two adult sons, Avery and Oliver, and a Jack Russell-Daschundt mix dog named Dasch, after the punctuation mark, which he resembles. She divides her time between Northern California and New York City. Facebook: http://bit.ly/fbcrooked . Twitter: @cjramin

Table of Contents

Introduction: A Terrible Affliction: When I Went Looking for a Solution, I Found a Much Bigger Problem 1

Part I Problems

1 Back Pain Nation: How We Got Into This Mess 7

2 A Tale of Two Tables: Why Back Patients "Fail" Chiropractic Treatment and Physical Therapy 19

3 Hazardous Images: Why You Do Not Need-Or Want-To Have an MRI 45

4 Needle Jockeys: How Epidural Steroid Injections Can Go Wrong 55

5 The Gold Standard: Why Lumbar Spinal Fusion is Never Your Only Remaining Option 73

6 Google Your Spine Surgery: The Truth About "Cutting-Edge" Procedures, as Advertised Online and on TV 103

7 Replacement Parts: Why a Bionic Lumbar Spine is not in the Cards 132

8 The Opioid Wars: How Chronic Opioid Therapy Keeps You in Pain 153

Part II Solutions

Introduction to Part II 177

9 Head Case: What Your Brain has to Do with Your Back 179

10 The Back Whisperers: How to Find a Rehabilitation Partner 219

11 The Right Kind of Hurt: How a Much-Maligned Machine May Still Change Everything 260

12 The Posture Mavens: How to Make Gravity Your Friend 284

Conclusion: Six Years Later 325

Acknowledgments 331

Notes 335

Bibliography 379

Index 385

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