Back pain? Try some placebo surgery

Back Pain? Try Some Placebo Surgery.
That is the name of a recent article by a retired spinal surgeon about the dramatic increase of spinal fusion surgeries.
It may surprise you to learn that most spinal and joint surgeries including spinal fusion surgery have not been subjected to placebo controlled research trials, so we do not know if they are better than sham surgery (placebo). 
There have been a few good studies comparing spinal fusion to non surgical treatment and two of the studies showed no better results for the spinal fusion surgery.
We have the FDA trying to minimize harm for drugs, but no FDA like agency for surgeries. 
Back pain? Try some placebo surgery