The AGM of the Society was held on Wednesday 6th April 2016. The President was in the chair. He introduced the evenings speaker Mr Evan Davies FRCS consultant spinal surgeon at SGH. He spoke to the title “Spinal Surgery for Back Pain: a history of gain, disaster or industry-led contagion”. Mr Davies said he had been a medical student at SGH in 1984. He is mad about rugby and was captain of the Southampton University rugby team.
The Egyptians recommended physical therapy and activity for back pain, but of course had no idea of its causes. In mediaeval times it was considered not to emanate from the back but was punishment for sin. It was during the Renaissance that ideas about the causes of back pain were first discussed. In the late Georgian times it was observed that the first railways caused back pain due to spinal jarring from the uncomfortable ride of the first trains. Back pain was mainly treated with traction and bed rest and immobility. The first back operation was carried out in 1911 but it was not until the1970s that operating on the back became routine. There was an interesting Oxford trial that compared aggressive physiotherapy including cognitive therapy with surgery for back pain. The physiotherapy cost £3000 and surgery £6000 but 2 years later the surgical treatment had better results. In Denmark a trial tried to estimate the cost to society of the standard treatment of rest and no work, compared with immediate surgery. By 2 years the surgical group were much more likely to be back at work and in all were costing a lot less to society. Mr Davies also spoke about scoliosis surgery. He said that modern techniques meant that children were now back at school in 4 weeks. He considered, though, that the School Scoliosis Screening programme had a poor pick-up rate.

The President thanked Mr Davies for an interesting talk and the meeting proceeded to the AGM of the Society. [The minutes of which are circulated before the next AGM].