Crooked

 Cathryn Jakobson Ramin wrote Crooked: Outwitting the Back Pain Industry and Getting On The Road To Recovery. She put six years of research into her book in part because of her own back pain issues. I have some experience with back pain and I agree with her on most things. She says two people with the same MRI results and one will have back pain and the other won't. Epidural steroid injections don't help and can create bone loss. Opioids are addictive. Surgery to fuse vertebrae is not helpful in reducing pain. Chiropractors are often not helpful. Yoga and Pilates can sometimes make your back pain worse. She exposes the dark side of the medical for profit industry. The second section of the book talks about things that can help back pain. Staying active and limiting how much time you sit in chairs is important. Cognitive behavioral therapy paired with spine exercises prescribed for your back are helpful. I think it would be great if someone opened some back pain rehab facilities where people could go to exercise and talk with therapists regarding their back pain. I have never seen such a place but according to this author, that is the best evidence based treatment for chronic back pain.