In nearly twenty years of being a Florida car crash lawyer, I have seen hundreds of clients with severe back pain. Some of the treatments they have received range from ice packs to back surgery. Pain injections and pumps can provide relief but it is often short term. Surgeries have risks too, including infection or death. Yet, the most disturbing consequence I have witnessed is when narcotic pain medication like Oxycontin is prescribed and the client ends up addicted.
Juries have been less than understanding, perhaps based upon our Puritanical forefathers of car accident or slip and fall plaintiffs who allege back pain when there is no objective medical evidence. It is not universally understood that sophisticated imaging studies like MRIs and CT scans are not fool proof in the diagnosis of back pain. In fact, they often show abnormalities in asymptomatic patients.
Since there is no “best choice” for the treatment of back pain; we often recommend that our clients suffering chronic life altering pain and seem depressed also undergo emotional counseling with qualified mental health professionals. I believe there is a very real relationship between pain and depression that often goes undiagnosed and treated. I have seen miraculous recoveries with injured clients that just start a program of exercise and emotional therapy after a back injury.
Last week, the Feds permitted Eli Lilly to market its blockbuster antidepressant, Cymbalta, for some chronic back pain, as a Miami injury lawyer, I am curious to see if this will be “the cure” for many of our clients.
