Bed Rest for Back Pain: The 1986 Trial of Two Days vs Seven

See which back warning signs need a doctor today, and what to do if yours don't: https://lowerback.me Lowerback is for backs of every kind, whether yours went last Tuesday or has been grumbling for ten years. It starts with the short list of symptoms that should send you to urgent care. After that come plain explanations of what is usually going on and steps you can start on at home. Nothing on it asks you to lie still and wait. If your back is bothering you this week, this week is a good time to look. ----- Is a week in bed better than two days when your back gives out? In 1986 a San Antonio clinic randomly gave 203 patients one or the other, to test whether more bed rest for back pain actually helped. The week in bed did no better. Richard Deyo's team followed both groups at three weeks and three months. The patients sent home for two days were back at work sooner, and they felt no worse for it. Nine years later, in Helsinki, working adults with a fresh episode were given one of three instructions. They were told to rest in bed for two days, to do back exercises a physiotherapist had taught them, or to carry on with ordinary activity as far as the pain allowed. The result is not the one most people would guess. This film explains why rest looked like common sense, what the plaster cast comparison gets wrong, and what replaced the old advice. It is an explanation, not a treatment plan. Sudden bladder or bowel changes, numbness between the legs, or a leg that is getting weaker need urgent care. 0:00 - Why doctors prescribed a week in bed 1:06 - The 1986 trial: two days vs seven 1:35 - Bed rest, exercises or normal activity? #backpain #lowbackpain #bedrest