Recognizing October As National Spine Health Awareness Month

Floor Speech

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Mr. WALKINSHAW. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to ask that my colleagues join me in recognizing October as National Spine Health Awareness Month.

In the U.S., 100 million people suffer from neck or back conditions every year according to the CDC. Back pain is the number one cause of missed workdays, the leading cause of job-related disability and pain in the U.S., and the most common non-cancer related reason for an opioid prescription in the U.S. In addition, those with back and neck pain are four times more likely to become clinically depressed.

The National Spine Health Foundation, located in my district in Reston, Virginia, is the only national patient-centered non-profit dedicated to helping patients overcome debilitating spinal conditions and take back their lives. For over two decades, the Foundation has increased its commitment to and has developed award winning patient education, advocacy, and research work to give patients the tools they need to make informed decisions about their spine health and navigate their own treatment journeys with confidence.

To further address the complex challenges of spinal health, the Foundation has created four specialized task forces led by experts in their fields.

The Opioid Task Force which has advanced research on minimizing opioid use while still optimizing pain relief.

The Bone Health Task Force promotes bone health screening protocols, research, and public education.

The Military & Veterans Task Force works to ensure that service members and veterans receive advanced, appropriate spine care.

Finally, the Motion Preservation Task Force ensures patients and providers have access to lifechanging motion-preserving procedures, focusing on artificial disc replacement.

The Foundation continues to be strongly committed to spine health research. Patient reported outcomes have long been part of fabric of NSHF since its inception. As they are deeply invested in supporting evidence-based healthcare decisionmaking, it is important to be part of the process of creating the evidence. Their cloud-based research tool called `Spine-online' enables them to conduct multi-center studies and partner with research teams both in the U.S. and internationally. Active studies are currently occurring on robotic surgery, enhanced surgical recovery, augmented reality, a genetic basis for personalized spine treatments, stem cell therapy, and more.

Mr. Speaker, I ask that my colleagues join me in recognizing the importance of good spinal health and thanking the NSHF and the healthcare providers who help spine and neck patients, not just in October, but all year long.

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