Back Pain Sufferers: You Could Do Worse Than Medical Cannabis

One of the most common reasons for using medical cannabis is chronic pain. Millions of people across the country rely on cannabis to manage their daily discomfort. I am guessing a large percentage of these patients are suffering from back pain. And when back pain impairs a person’s ability to enjoy life, medical cannabis is an option that deserves at least some consideration.

I know several people who live with debilitating back pain. Here is my take: they could do worse than getting on the medical cannabis train. So could you. If you are among the approximately 16 million adults living with persistent or chronic back pain, you don’t have to use medical cannabis. You have other choices. But for my money, most of them do not match up.

Here are just some of the ways you could do worse than using medical cannabis:

1. You Could Do Nothing and Let the Pain Win

One of the previously mentioned people I know has given up. She has tried prescription narcotics. She has had surgery then only made her back pain worse. She has also tried physical therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), massage, and chiropractic. She is out of options.

She has decided to do nothing more. In essence, she has let the pain win. Now she struggles to do anything but sit in a chair all day and struggle with her physical and emotional feelings. I do not fault her objection to medical cannabis. But I am profoundly saddened by it. You could follow her example.

2. You Could Up Your Dosage of Pain Pills

Maybe you aren’t yet at the point of giving up. That’s good. In the absence of medical cannabis, you could always up your dosage of pain pills. That should do the trick, right? Only you can make that call. But ask yourself this: if the pain pills are not working like they used to, is there any reason to believe that taking more will solve your problem? You might feel better in the short term, but even higher doses will not be effective at some point.

3. You Could Go Back Under the Knife

Another friend of mine has elected to go back to the cutting board. The first surgery he had to correct his back problems didn’t work. And in fact, his pain ultimately got worse. So now he thinks the best solution is to try surgery again. Maybe his strategy sounds like your best choice as well. What do you think?

4. You Could Look at Other Alternative Therapies

The previous three options just don’t sit well with me. That is why I would always recommend looking into medical cannabis. Websites like Utahmarijuana.org are a good starting place. But when I find there is still resistance to the cannabis idea, I generally suggest looking at other alternative therapies.

Injection therapies immediately come to mind. For example, a lumbar sympathetic block involves injecting medicine into the back, medicine that numbs the sympathetic nerve to offer pain relief.

Another alternative is a procedure known as radio frequency ablation. The procedure relies on short bursts of electricity to create a lesion on a targeted nerve. This lesion blocks pain signals so that they never reach the brain.

Although I do not experience chronic back pain myself, I know people who do. I can see with my own eyes how it negatively impacts their lives. For the life of me, I cannot understand why they won’t at least consider medical cannabis. They could do a lot worse. Indeed, some of them are.