When to Bypass Back Surgery

My book describes the significance and difference of low back pain among a child, adult, or elder. It guides the nonmedical reader how to evaluate low back pain, how it should be treated, and it emphasizes a conservative nonsurgical treatment. I wrote a chapter about the anatomy of the lower spine, so the lector will have a better understanding of the medical condition; a chapter about sciatic pain, central and lateral hemiated discs, spinal stenosis, sacroiliac strain, and coccygodynia; one about and when surgery is indicated and how to go about a consultation and "second opinion"; I talk about physical therapy and its multiple modalities; as well as manipulation, acupuncture, and trigger points injections. I have a small chapter of the most common surgical procedures and also about painkillers and analgesics. I describe my own exercise program for the treatment of low back pain. Finally, there is a chapter that I call Useful Resources, a Web page where the reader can obtain serious professional information about the subject. I feel that this small book could be useful to the average reader, to these days of "medical propaganda" when we are paying for unnecessary surgery and tests, which are very costly and sometimes with catastrophic results.