No magic cures but Spine Rehabilitation Program helps patients manage debilitating back pain without surgery

Seven years ago, an active, healthy, 23-year-old Heather Wellman was carrying laundry down stone stairs when she missed a step trying to avoid a kitten.

The result: back pain so excruciating she couldn’t stand up straight.

As bad as it was, it was only the beginning of a saga that many people can relate to: back pain seemingly beyond endurance, coupled with frustration and depression.

Today, at age 30, Wellman has emerged as a shining example of how a determined patient, with help from spine rehabilitation experts, can overcome chronic back pain, deal with it, and live a relatively normal life.

“I can’t begin to tell you how much respect I have for the Spine Rehabilitation Program (at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics),” Wellman says. “They have helped me get my life back when I didn’t think I could. They are absolutely awesome!”

Wellman’s original spinal disk injury was surgically repaired. While successful, the procedure didn’t end her problems. A year later, while she was moving a TV set, her two-year-old-son jumped on her back, causing further serious injury.

The incident led to more surgery.

“I never recovered,” Wellman says. “I had incredible pain and no control over the way I felt. My kids were suffering because I was suffering.”

Overwhelmed, Wellman visited the Spine Rehabilitation Program—the only multidisciplinary pain rehabilitation program in the state. The program was founded in 1985 by orthopaedic surgeons who recognized that many patients with chronic back pain do not need surgery but do need an aggressive rehabilitation program.

“Unfortunately, many patients initially think they need surgery or pain medications to ‘fix’ their back pain,” says Joseph Chen, M.D., the center’s medical director. “Not all patients understand that pain can come from their muscles being too weak or inflexible and that pain can worsen in the presence of extreme stress, anxiety, or depression. That’s why we use a team approach that incorporates physical therapy for exercise, psychology for stress management, and other rehabilitation specialists to help our patients.”

Wellman recalls being skeptical when the team promised they could help. “You definitely have to want to change,” she says. “The pain consumes you, runs your life.”

Wellman was challenged to work very, very hard in rehabilitation.

“They said the answer was inside of me,” she says. “No more magical procedures or miracle pills. You have to be willing to take control of your pain and your life.”

Despite being legally disabled, Wellman gradually realized a remarkable transformation.

“I have been exercising ever since,” she says. “The ‘Y’ in Fort Madison became so used to be coming into the pool and weight room, they hired me to teach classes (including bicycle ‘spinning’ and yoga). I now have a personal training license and I’m working on my rehab license. I’ve turned everything around.”

Wellman has also remarried and realized another dream she had thought was impossible—delivery of a third child.

Chen says studies have shown that multidisciplinary pain rehabilitation programs are not only clinically effective for patients, but also have additional benefits to society.

“Patients note improvement in their pain and quality of their lives; health insurance companies reduce health care costs from multiple physician visits, emergency room visits, expensive MRI and diagnostic tests; and society benefits because people are back to leading productive, fruitful work and recreational lives,” he says. “It’s a win-win-win situation.”

For learn more about the UI Spine Center or the Spine Rehabilitation Team, call UI Health Access or call the spine program directly at 319-356-8400. For consultation or referral, physicians should call UI Consult.

Spine rehab team

The intensive two-week program for patients with chronic back pain includes a team of experienced specialists:

• Medical director Joseph Chen, M.D., a physical medicine and rehabilitation physician
• Physical therapists
• Clinical health psychologists
• Social worker/program coordinator
• Licensed vocational rehabilitation counselor

FACTOID

An estimated $60 billion a year is spent on back related problems and associated costs such as lost work production, disability costs, and failed medical procedures.

We teach patients they have to be physically active and cognitively active by using exercise, psychological coping skills, and education to manage chronic pain and stress so they can do the things in life they want and enjoy. —Joseph Chen, M.D.

Masters of Back Pain
Medical director Joseph Chen, M.D. (second from left), leads a spinal rehabilitation team that includes clinical psychologist Valerie Keffala, Ph.D.; senior physical therapist Pam Lee; and rehab team coordinator Teresa Kober.