Another sad story of a superstar addicted to prescription pain killers. It is thought that Michael Jackson's use of morphine and Demerol may have played a role in his death. Last week, Regis Philbin discussed his need for cortisone shots every five weeks just to control the intensity of his lower back pain.

Wake up America! If such high-profile personalities are unable to get the proper treatment to identify the cause of their pain and resolve it, then what chance do you have?

Pain medication is the medical establishment's answer to an individual suffering with chronic pain. I am here to tell you that in most cases chronic pain is nothing more than misdiagnosed acute pain. Diagnoses are typically created through x-rays and MRIs. Yet, studies are increasingly showing that exams of as many people without pain present reflect the same findings (such as herniated discs, stenosis, arthritis and meniscal tears) as those with pain symptoms. The conclusion of these studies is that there is very little correlation between the diagnostic findings and pain. This should be a red flag to the medical establishment - but instead the same, flawed system for establishing the cause of pain continues.

I am a physical therapist and employ a different method for identifying the cause of pain. I have resolved the cause of pain for thousands of patients. Every cause creates certain symptoms and every set of symptoms represents a specific cause. By understanding this premise and by performing a complete evaluation, I have been able to identify the cause of pain recognizing that the diagnostic findings of arthritis or herniated discs may simply show that these entities exist but have nothing to do with the pain being experienced.

In 90% to 95% of the patients I have treated, the cause of the pain was muscle weakness or imbalance. Even when the pain was experienced in a joint, this was due to misalignment of the joint surfaces creating abnormal rubbing and pain. The arthritis found at the joint through an x-ray had nothing to do with causing the pain. Any treatment protocol designed to address arthritis, herniated discs, stenosis or meniscal tears when the symptoms do not identify these entities as the cause of pain, are destined to fail.

This premise presents a scenario where different medications can be utilized to resolve pain starting with anti-inflammatories to muscle relaxants and finally pain killers. Surgeries are performed routinely because "nothing else worked". This is not the way the system is designed to operate. Treatment protocols should be designed based on a full understanding of what is causing pain.

How many more people have to die or have their lives ruined due to a lack of understanding of the cause of pain. Someone has to stand up to the medical establishment and say the system is broken. The healthcare crisis is the result of too many people being kept in a system with no answers for treating pain. The answer is identifying the cause of pain and then treating the cause. I have proven that in most cases the cause of pain is muscle weakness including strains or muscle imbalance. Understanding this as the cause with a legitimate means of resolving pain in a short period of time without the use of pain medication will change the culture of the medical establishment and allow people to receive the treatment they need.