LSAT 105 | Section 2 | Logical Reasoning: Q23

LR Question 23 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Chronic back pain is usually caused by a herniated or…

QUESTION TYPE: Most Strongly Supported

FACTS:

1. Most back pain comes from degenerated disks.
2. A disk will generally be damaged long before it causes pain.
3. In most cases, the pain is brought on by weakened muscles.

ANALYSIS: We can say that exercise can sometimes prevent back pain even when a disk is degenerated or herniated.

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1. Be very careful when making predictions about the future. The stimulus only gives us information about the present. Maybe back pain will get much, much worse in the future, for some unpredictable reason.
2. We know people who exercise are less likely to have back pain. But the argument only says that pain is “generally” a result of not exercising. So pain could still occur with exercise.
3. There might be a slight pain when a disk herniates. The pain just won’t become chronic until much later.
4. Hard to say. Doctors can make guesses, based on herniated disks. But those people might be fine if they exercise. And people without herniated disks could develop pain from some other cause or a future herniation.
5. CORRECT. Exercise can help delay or prevent pain.

Recap: The question begins with “Chronic back pain is usually caused by a herniated or”. It is a Most Strongly Supported question. Learn how to master LSAT MSS questions on the LSAT Logical Reasoning question types page.