Mr. Taylor, I disagree with your hypothesis.  

Ten months ago, I experienced debilitating back pain.  I did not experience an inability to urinate nor loss of bowel control, but nevertheless was severely incapacitated for months.  My doctor prescribed increasing levels of narcotics to manage the pain but ultimately, due to a past cancer episode was prescribed an MRI.  Happily, cancer was not the cause of my  pain, but a severely herniated disc was.  The herniated disc had no prospect of resolution without surgery.  Ultimately, surgery did resolve my issue however this was not before an extended bout with increasing doses of narcotics, and has resulted in nerve damage to my leg and foot that may be permanent.  I believe that both of these issues could have been prevented with prompt testing and surgery.

While you may be statistically correct, most back problems are resolved with time, that is little solace for those whose problems are not and have to play the odds until it is too late