se the only physiological indicators are severe pain and limited mobility. While advances in medicine offer the prospect of a longer and more productive life, little or no headway has been made in treating this condition, other than improvements in treating the symptomatic pain. Studies of back-injury treatments conclude that no single regimen is more effective than any other and, more significantly, that none enjoys a measurable advantage over doing nothing at all. Treatment costs for lower-back pain continue to rise for American employers. From 1988 to 1992, as an example, the average cost of a compensable back injury increased by nearly 43 percent to more than $18,000 with no detectable improvement in medical outcomes. "In an effort to appease patients who demand immediate and effective relief, physicians try one expensive and fruitless course of treatment after another until time takes its course and the symptoms abate."
In the absence of an unanticipated me
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