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Only around 1 in 10 common non-surgical and non-invasive treatments for back pain are effective, analysis suggests
Medical Xpress / British Medical Journal / BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine ^ | March 18, 2025 | Steven J Kamper et al

Posted on 03/25/2025 3:46:35 PM PDT by ConservativeMind

Only around one in 10 common non-surgical and non-invasive treatments for lower back pain are effective, suggests a pooled data analysis.

And the pain relief they offer is only marginally better than that achieved with a placebo.

Low back pain is common and debilitating, and 80–90% of it is categorized as non-specific, because there's no immediately identifiable cause.

A total of 301 trials investigating 56 different treatments or treatment combinations were included in the pooled data analysis.

The most common interventions were NSAIDs (27 trials), opioids (26 trials), laser and light therapy (25), acupuncture (24), and gentle manual therapy (mobilization; 19 trials).

Fifty-two trials sampled participants with acute low back pain; 228 trials with chronic low back pain; and 21 trial participants with both types.

Of the 69 treatment comparisons included in the trials, the certainty of the evidence was moderate for 11 (16%), low for 25 (36%), and very low for 33 (48%), as assessed by the GRADE system.

The pooled data analysis showed that compared with placebo, no non-pharmacological treatments and only NSAIDs emerged as effective for acute low back pain; exercise, spinal manipulation, and taping, antidepressants and drugs that target pain receptors (TRPV1 agonists) emerged as effective for chronic low back pain.

But the effects were small.

Moderate quality evidence showed that treatments for acute low back pain that weren't effective included exercise, steroid injections and paracetamol, while anesthetics (i.e. Lidocaine) and antibiotics weren't effective for chronic low back pain, the analysis showed.

The evidence was inconclusive for 10 non-pharmacological and 10 pharmacological treatments for acute low back pain. It was also inconclusive for a wide range of 22 non-pharmacological treatments, including acupuncture, massage, osteopathy and TENS, and 16 pharmacological treatments, including antidepressants + paracetamol, complementary medicines, bisphosphonates, and muscle relaxants for chronic back pain.

(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...


TOPICS: Health/Medicine
KEYWORDS: backpain; lumbar; sciatic
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To: DIRTYSECRET

Uhg. Back gets so bad, I will puke or have astronomical issues. Not fun.


21 posted on 03/25/2025 4:49:51 PM PDT by waterhill (Nobody cares, work harder!)
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To: ConservativeMind

I could be wrong but I thought there was an article recently which stated basically the same dismal results for invasive/surgical procedures for back problems.


22 posted on 03/25/2025 4:50:05 PM PDT by lastchance (Cognovit Dominus qui sunt eius.)
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Astronomical. But I suppose astronomical would work.


23 posted on 03/25/2025 4:52:35 PM PDT by waterhill (Nobody cares, work harder!)
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To: UnwashedPeasant

They don’t even have dentists let alone chiropractors.


24 posted on 03/25/2025 4:52:37 PM PDT by HYPOCRACY (Long live The Great MAGA Kangz!)
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Gastronomical.


25 posted on 03/25/2025 4:53:52 PM PDT by waterhill (Nobody cares, work harder!)
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To: ConservativeMind

Sometimes aspirin would work for me.


26 posted on 03/25/2025 4:54:34 PM PDT by roving (Pocket Pool Champ)
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To: Pontiac

From what I remember, after about a year, all of my pain just vanished. It was a miracle. I still have normal everyday back pain but the Devil’s pitchfork has left.


27 posted on 03/25/2025 5:08:08 PM PDT by crusty old prospector
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To: ConservativeMind

I hang from floor joists with just my toes touching the ground every morning. I make sure my hips “drop”. Do ten times. When I take a long drive I repeat when I arrive. I watch how I pick up things and use a brace. Mostly eliminated my problems.


28 posted on 03/25/2025 5:09:02 PM PDT by alternatives?
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To: alternatives?

I do thank God though.


29 posted on 03/25/2025 5:14:57 PM PDT by alternatives?
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To: crusty old prospector

You are blessed.

Praise the Lord


30 posted on 03/25/2025 5:15:06 PM PDT by Pontiac (The welfare state must fail because it is contrary to human nature and diminishes the human spirit.)
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To: ConservativeMind

While utilizing a technique to identify the perceptual programming traumatic event or stored memory that is attached to various illnesses and physical pain, I found that most lower back pain is a result of unresolved security issues from early childhood.

I have a person close their eyes and I merely touch these stored memories in the person’s soul many feet from their physical body and it stimulates the memory to backfeed into the peripheral nervous system where it is attached to the body in a specific dermatome. This causes a physical body response that often knocks the person off their feet. (I now used chairs as protective railings so they can catch themselves)

The physical pain is caused by the spinal muscles such as the erector spinae muscles contracting to block the neural junction of the afferent neuron in the dorsal root ganglion. This compression causes the disc to bulge and irritate other spinal nerves including the corresponding efferent neuron innervating the abdomen.

This in turn causes the enterochromaffin like cells (ECL) to not produce serotonin causing the gut biome to create additional problems.

I’ve found this same pattern in scoliosis.

Often, healing the perceived traumatic memory, the defense response in the body relaxes and the pain dissipates instantly.

In one case, working with a 12 yr old with severe scoliosis, resolving a trauma from when his parents divorced when he was 6 yrs old caused his back to pop so loud that his mother heard it in the next room and came running in, as the scoliosis dissipated. His back muscles relaxed instantly when they no longer needed to block the traumatic memory and the attached painful emotions, thus allowing his spine to straighten.

I didn’t know anything about the young man, not even his name. The stored traumatic memories in the soul are very dense consciousness and are physical to my perception.

I know this sounds bizarre, but it’s easy to demonstrate.


31 posted on 03/25/2025 5:23:06 PM PDT by tired&retired (Blessings )
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To: tired&retired

PS. I never touched the young man to facilitate the shift. It was all done at the stored memory location many feet from his physical body.


32 posted on 03/25/2025 5:26:37 PM PDT by tired&retired (Blessings )
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To: Governor Dinwiddie

Pat Boone...
Still Kickin’-—?
“In a Metal Mood”
Great Music done poorly.

.
Pat in Leather...


33 posted on 03/25/2025 5:38:33 PM PDT by Big Red Badger (ALL Things Will be Revealed !)
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To: ConservativeMind

I just had a case where a small intestine pinched in an umbilical hernia causing intestinal blockage that backed up the gall bladder, pancreatic, and liver ducts causing inflammation.

The worst thing was that the blockage caused the stomach to become distended, causing the g-cells to produce and abundance of gastrin into the bloodstream, which in turn caused so much histamine production that it created histamine intolerance.

The person could hardly walk due to the resulting inflamation and pain in their joints. In addition, the tissue inflamation caused difficulty breathing and severe snoring, as well as severe rhinitis. It even caused heart palpitations.

The abundance of histamines caused the parietal cells to over produce acid in the stomach causing severe pain in addition to the bloating.

I was absolutely amazed that several diamine oxidase tablets resolved everything in about three hours. I was able to massage/push the intestine back through the hernia and some magnesium oxide got the bowels flowing. The recovery was astonishing. However, hernia repair surgery is still needed.

High histamine levels, either from the mast cells or ECL cells will cause severe back and joint pain all over.

In this case their was a genetic predisposition to low diamine oxidase in his body. Green pea sprout consumption is the best diamine oxidase supplementation for long term histamine control.

The human body sure is an intricate complex puzzle.


34 posted on 03/25/2025 5:59:42 PM PDT by tired&retired (Blessings )
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To: DIRTYSECRET

I have the best physical therapist in town, very close to my home. He only works at the office one day a week because he teaches physical therapy at the local college. My MD sent a referral for five treatments, but it only took one to put my back in really good shape again.

Iff you’e near any a school that teaches physical therapy, suggest you go there.


35 posted on 03/25/2025 6:00:18 PM PDT by Veto! (Trump Is Superman)
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To: ConservativeMind
I ruptured my L4-L5 disc playing hockey about 10 years ago. I had a good chiropractor who could usually get me tuned up quickly when it became an issue.

About 7 years ago I angered it at work one day. It was bad enough I had to go on short-term disability. Chiropractor wasn't able to get it back in, so after a few months of constant pain, living in bed for 23+ hours a day, and eating ibuprofen like jelly beans, my chiropractor finally recommended a surgeon.

Best decision ever. The day after my microdiscectomy, I got up and walked over a mile and a half around my neighborhood. Never even bothered with the Norco they prescribed me after surgery.

A month after surgery I rode my motorcycle 3 hours to a racetrack, did a track weekend, and rode back home.

Also started playing hockey again. Now almost 8 years since surgery, at 47 years old, commuting almost daily on a sportbike, and playing hockey 3 times a week, I'm living proof that not all back surgeries are horrible experiences.

36 posted on 03/25/2025 6:01:55 PM PDT by Christopher
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To: Magic Fingers

I have been very happy with the results of lumbar epidural injections.


37 posted on 03/25/2025 6:08:34 PM PDT by sissyjane
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To: ConservativeMind

Someone told me to roll on two tennis balls in a sock.


38 posted on 03/25/2025 6:43:21 PM PDT by Lisbon1940 (I don’t see why they would)
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To: DIRTYSECRET

I recently had a procedure where they “burn” the nerves in the lower back.
It worked for me.
Pain free for the first time in years.


39 posted on 03/25/2025 6:44:23 PM PDT by joe fonebone (And the people said NO! The End)
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To: ryderann

I was very skeptical of a chiropracter until I had persistent low back pain.

I went to a good one. Instant relief. I changed to a different mattress and started doing crunches.

Over years, the back pain became minimal. Only a few more chiropractic visits, but mostly when I start to feel back pain, I do a hundred crunches and the pain goes away.


40 posted on 03/25/2025 7:10:01 PM PDT by marktwain
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