Billion Dollar Spinal Fusion Surgery Scam Exposed in USA

This story spends more time discussing the unapproved medical hardware that is being used by some hospitals to cut corners and save money, but the most important part of this story for people with back pain is the fact that both doctors and other "middle men" have been getting paid to send patients to the operating table for spinal fusion surgeries which, as the story mentions, are "sometimes" unnecessary. 

Here is the story: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/whistleblowers-expose-billion-dollar-back-surgery-scam/

Based on my personal experience of being recommended to undergo a discectomy and spinal fusion by 2 surgeons, refusing to do so, and discovering that most (yes, most) back pain can be remedied through body awareness, posture and activity changes, I believe it's significantly more than "sometimes" that these surgeries are unnecessary. I would say most are not necessary. Reason being is the body is capable of healing itself, including conditions like spinal stenosis, degenerative disc disease, even disc herniations have been shown to improve and become asymptomatic with consistent and proper mobilization of formerly dysfunctional joints. 

I am so thankful that I refused to do the fusion surgery because there is no coming back from it, and I've been able to return to normal activity by simply changing my activity and my posture. Every day you spend with poor posture and activity, your body degrades, but every day you spend with the skeleton in proper alignment and the muscles adequately activated to do their job of supporting the skeleton, almost like magic the body is able to heal and become stronger.

My hope is that at least one person considering this surgery will think more critically about their options and possibly save themselves from making a permanent, giant mistake.

Ben