Chronic back pain is usually caused by a herniated or degenerated spinal disk. In most cases the disk will have been ...

StasDAllen on February 3, 2021

How come not B?

To me it sounds like answer choice B is just a rephrasing, albeit with added specificity, of answer choice E.

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liwenong28 on February 8, 2021

Hi!

I am not an instructor but let me try to explain this question.

For this Must be True question, B is incorrect because it states "People who exercise their abdominal and spinal muscles regularly are sure to be free from chronic back pain." - which is too strong a statement to be made.

I thought perhaps people who exercise their abdominal and spinal muscles regularly may at some point in time strain their back, so it is too strong too say that they are "sure to be free from chronic back pain".

E is correct because of the last sentence "If chronic pain later develops in such a case, it is generally brought about by a deterioration of the abdominal and spinal muscles caused by insufficient exercise."

E states that "There is a strategy that can be effective in delaying or preventing the onset of pain from a currently asymptomatic herniated or degenerated spinal disk." That strategy that E is referring to is "sufficient exercise" as stated in the last sentence of the stimulus. The word "can" also makes the answer choice less strong.

I hope the above helps!