Backache
U.S. back pain costs rise but pain still there
The total cost of treating back pain in the United States has risen 65 percent in the past decade, but after all the pricey treatments, many people are still left with an aching back and an increasingly empty wallet, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.
They said treating spine problems in the United States costs $85.9 billion a year, rivaling the economic burden of treating cancer, which costs $89 billion.
Higher spending on prescription drugs, more advanced diagnostic tests and more frequent outpatient visits helped drive the increases, as well as greater patient demand for treatment and more use of spinal fusion surgery and instruments, they said.
Antidepressants Unproven as Treatment for Low Back Pain
Antidepressants might be worthless for treating low back pain, suggests a new review that found no evidence to support using the drugs in this way. Yet, up to 23 percent of U.S. physicians report prescribing antidepressants to patients with low back pain.
“The prescription of antidepressants as a treatment for back pain remains controversial,” Donna Urquhart, Ph.D., research fellow at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, and lead review author.
The review appears in the latest issue of The Cochrane Library, a publication of The Cochrane Collaboration, an international organization that evaluates medical research. Systematic reviews draw evidence-based conclusions about medical practice after considering both the content and quality of existing medical trials on a topic.
Surgery can fix many back problems: studies
Surgery works for people with a slipped or misaligned disk, but often is not necessary if patients can muster enough patience, according to two studies in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Back problems are a difficult challenge for doctors in part because it is difficult to know when to operate.
New Treatment Offers Relief from Chronic Back Pain
Chronic back pain is a condition that affects a significant part of the population, with patients falling into three major groups; those with herniated discs, spinal stenosis (a nerve affecting narrowing of the spinal cord), and complications from failed back surgery. Radiofrequency thermolesioning is a widespread treatment for chronic back pain, but because of its neurodestructive nature, it is often considered an unsuitable treatment.
Obese patients ‘increasing back pain among nurses’
A rise in the number of obese patients on wards could be causing thousands of NHS nurses to seek treatment for back pain, according to experts.
About 5,000 nurses are currently being treated for back pain following a surge in patients’ weights and the number of patients a nurse has to care for, according to the British Chiropractic Association.
New Device Offers Hope to Children with Chest, Spinal Deformities
Two-year-old Ariana Martin had a rough start to life.
A fraternal twin, she was born without four ribs on her left side, and with several health problems, including severe scoliosis. With an under-developed chest cavity, Ariana faced severe lung disease and difficulty breathing.
Long-term narcotics use for back pain may be ineffective and lead to abuse
Narcotic drugs (opioids) are commonly prescribed for short-term relief of chronic back pain, but their effectiveness long-term has been questioned in a review article by researchers at Yale School of Medicine, who also found that behaviors consistent with opioid abuse was reported in 24 percent of cases.
“Patients with chronic back pain commonly request pain medication, and opioid medications are used despite the concerns clinicians have with patients developing an addiction to these medications,” said first author Bridget Martell, M.D., assistant clinical professor of general internal medicine at Yale School of Medicine. “Our findings suggest that clinicians should consider other treatments with similar benefits but fewer long-term adverse effects.”
New treatment for lower back pain using patient’s own stem cells
A University of Manchester researcher has developed a treatment for lower back pain using the patient’s own stem cells, which could replace the use of strong painkillers or surgery that can cause debilitation, neither of which addresses the underlying cause.
Dr Stephen Richardson, of the University’s Division of Regenerative Medicine in the School of Medicine (FMHS), has developed the treatment; and in collaboration with German biotechnology company Arthrokinetics and internationally-renowned spinal surgeons Spinal Foundation are hoping to enter pre-clinical trials next year. It is expected to rapidly yield a marketable product which will revolutionise treatment of long-term low back pain.
Patients With Herniated Disk Improved With or Without Surgery
Patients with lumbar disk herniation who had surgery or nonoperative treatments showed similar levels of improvement in the reduction of pain over a 2-year period, according to a randomized trial in the November 22/29 issue of JAMA. In all cases patients who had surgery did slightly better.
Lumbar diskectomy (surgical removal, in part or whole, of an intervertebral disk) is the most common surgical procedure performed in the United States for patients having back and leg pain. The vast majority of the procedures are elective.
Acupuncture appears effective for lower back pain
Acupuncture improves lower back pain, compared with no treatment, German researchers report. However, they found that a minimal intervention consisting of superficial needle placement at non-acupuncture points resulted in similar improvements.
Past studies have yielded inconclusive results concerning the effectiveness of acupuncture to treat lower back pain. To further investigate, a team lead by Dr. Benno Brinkhaus, from the Charite University Medical Center in Berlin, evaluated nearly 300 patients in what the researchers believe is the largest trial to assess the effectiveness of acupuncture for lower back pain.
Vertebroplasty Improves Back Pain, Activity Level
A Mayo Clinic study has found patients report less back pain at rest and while active following vertebroplasty, a procedure in which medical cement is injected into painful compression fractures in the spinal vertebrae due to osteoporosis. Patients also reported improved function in their daily activities, such as walking, housework and getting dressed. The findings are published in the November/December issue of American Journal of Neuroradiology, http://www.ajnr.org.
“These findings give us as good evidence as there is—in a study without a group receiving another or no treatment for comparison—that patients are more functional for up to a year after vertebroplasty than before vertebroplasty,” says David Kallmes, M.D., the Mayo Clinic neuroradiologist who led the study.
Traction Not Beneficial for Low Back Pain
The use of traction to help treat low back pain has no benefit, despite its widespread use, a new review of studies has found.
“Traction was introduced before it was properly evaluated in high-quality randomized trials, and as an intervention is already part of usual practice,” said lead author Judy M.A. Clarke, M.D. “It is hard to convince health care providers not to use it.”
Back exercises not the answer to low back pain
Exercise may help ease lower back pain—just as long as the exercise is not specifically targeting the back, a new study suggests.
Researchers found that of the nearly 700 patients with low back pain they followed for 18 months, those who walked and got other forms of “recreational” exercise had a lower risk of pain over time. In contrast, those who performed exercises specifically for their backs appeared to make matters worse.
Teriparatide tested against alendronate for back pain in women with osteoporosis
Teriparatide was tested against alendronate for back pain in women with osteoporosis.
“To compare the effects on back pain of teriparatide versus alendronate,” scientists in the United States conducted a study to “analyze the reporting of back pain in a head to head comparator trial and a followup study. In the comparator trial, women were randomized to receive either daily self-injected teriparatide 40 micro g plus an oral placebo (n=73), or daily oral alendronate 10 mg plus self-injected placebo (n=73).”
Oregon doctor sued for sex treatment for back pain
An Oregon woman whose doctor convinced her that he could cure her lower back pain by having sex with her is suing him and his medical clinic for $4 million, according to legal documents obtained on Monday.
The doctor, Randall Smith, who was 50 at the time, was stripped of his license and sent to jail for 60 days last year for charging the state’s Oregon Health Plan $5,000 for his 45-minute “treatments” involving the woman.
