Self-study
Chronic back pain is usually caused by a herniated or degenerated spinal disk. ██ ████ █████ ███ ████ ████ ████ ████ ███████ █████ ██████ ███████ ████ █████████ ███ ██ ████ ██ █████████ ███ ██ ████ ██████ ████ ███ ███ ██ ██ ███ █ █████████ ██ ███████████ ████ ████ █████ ██ ███████ █████████ ██ ███████ ████ █████ ████████ ██ ████ █ █████ ██ ██ █████████ ███████ █████ ██ █ █████████████ ██ ███ █████████ ███ ██████ ███████ ██████ ██ ████████████ █████████
Summary
Chronic back pain is often caused by a damaged spinal disk. Usually, pain develops long after the damage occurs. To further this point, it is estimated that a significant number of people have a damaged disk but no chronic pain. For these people, pain usually develops due to muscle weakness caused by a lack of exercise.
Strongly Supported Conclusions
A lack of exercise can contribute to the onset of chronic back pain.
Exercise may play a role in preventing chronic back pain.
Many people have damaged disks, but do not experience chronic pain.
A damaged spinal disk does not necessarily mean one will experience chronic pain.
23.
The statements above, if true, ████ ████████ ███████ █████ ███ ██ ███ ██████████
a
Four out of ████ ██████ ████ ███ ███ ██ ██ ███ ██ ████ ████ ████ █████ ███████ ███████ ████ █████
Unsupported. This is too strong to conclude this about the remaining 4/5. This group could develop chronic back pain from sources other than a damaged disk. They could also have a damaged disk that DOES show chronic symptoms.
b
People who exercise █████ █████████ ███ ██████ ███████ █████████ ███ ████ ██ ██ ████ ████ ███████ ████ █████
Unsupported. This only talks about chronic back pain caused by damaged disks - we can’t draw conclusions about all back pain. Additionally, we know that pain in certain cases is generally caused by weakened muscles - not all. We cannot be sure.
c
Patients rarely suffer ████ ████ ███ ████████ ████ ████ ██ ███ ████ ████ █ ██████ ████ █████ ███████ █████████ ██ ████████████
Unsupported. The stimulus discusses chronic pain symptoms. Chronic is prolonged - we cannot conclude from this about acute pain that may or may not occur at the time of injury.
d
Doctors can accurately ███████ █████ ██████ ███ ██ ███ ████ ███████ ████ ████ ████ ███████ ██ ██ ███ ███████
Unsupported. We know that not everyone that has a damaged disk will develop back pain. While a lack of exercise may play a role, there is no evidence to support a method for being able to accurately predict who will develop back pain.
e
There is a ████████ ████ ███ ██ █████████ ██ ████████ ██ ██████████ ███ █████ ██ ████ ████ █ █████████ ████████████ █████████ ██ ███████████ ██████ █████
Strongly supported. Exercise is a strategy can be effective for delaying or preventing the onset of pain by preventing the deterioration of the abdominal and spinal muscles in those with a damaged disk.