Treating the symptom opposed to the CAUSE. Chasing the pain instead of determining what causes the pain and addressing that cause. In the short-term treating the pain can lead to relief, but not lasting relief. Long-term pain relief can only be achieved by identifying and correcting the cause of your symptoms.

Treatment for lower back pain is based on a pathoanatomic model. This model has been proven ineffective over the past two decades. It works for internal medicine and medicine in general. It does not work for lower back pain.

The pathoanatomic model attempts to treat lower back pain by identifying an anatomic tissue or tissues thought to be "pathological." This is done by using imaging of the spine (x-ray, MRI, etc.) to see the tissues (bone, discs, nerves, muscles, tendons, ligaments, etc). A tissue or tissues are deemed "abnormal" or "pathological" then said tissue is treated.

As alluded to; this does NOT work for most people most of the time. Why?

1. The last two decades of medical research have PROVEN that "abnormal" and "pathological" findings on x-ray and MRI of the spine are in fact NORMAL.
2. Even if you identify a tissue that IS a pain generator and treat it effectively, you've only treated the symptom. A painful tissue. You haven't even considered what made the tissue painful. In effect you've placed a band-aid on the problem. You've covered it up momentarily. Nothing more.
3. The spine is made up of a number of different tissues that are all effected by each other. If a lumbar disc is injured the facet joints are loaded differently. If a facet joint is injured the disc is loaded differently. Pain from a facet joint or a disc can irritate a nerve root. Nerve root irritation, disc pain, and facet pain can all cause lumbar muscles to spasm. The point is it's very difficult to blame only one tissue for pain.

The fundamental flaw that makes back pain treatment ineffective is chasing the pain by attempting to identify the tissue at fault. The more effective approach is to focus on what is making the tissue painful.