Know Your Low Back Pain Score

Know Your Low Back Pain Score

I’m writing this post to give you a “heads up” on an upcoming blog topic that is critically important to how you choose to solve your low back pain.

Over the next few posts, I will be discussing how “Success” is defined, or measured, when it comes to the varioius types of low back pain care you could receive. If you are not already a subscriber, sign up using the form below to be notified.

The goal of this site is to always provide you with information about low back pain to help you make treatment choices that will fit your situation.

In other words, to help you solve low back pain…the right way…FOR YOU!

Lumbar Facet Pain and Nerve Blocks

Lumbar Facet Pain and Nerve Blocks

KEY POINTS:

Lumbar facet joints can be a cause of your pain.

Facet pain cannot be conclusively diagnosed by standard examination procedures or pain patterns.

Diagnostic nerve blocks are considered the gold standard for confirmation but they also suffer from limitations.

Pain relief from Facet Denervation (Medial Branch Neurotomy), although often significant, is rarely complete or permanent.

The decision on whether or not to consider Medial Branch Neurotomy should be based on understanding the expected outcomes, risks, and limitations of the procedure, in comparison to your current level of function.

Ablating (destroying) the nerve simply eliminates (or reduces) the ability to transmit pain signals. It DOES NOT identify or address the factors causing the pain or sensitization of structures supplied by that nerve

Treating Low Back Pain: Is There More Bun Than Beef?

Treating Low Back Pain: Is There More Bun Than Beef?

A tiny piece of meat engulfed by a massive bun caused the frail, grey haired grannie to loudly exclaim:

“WHERE’S THE BEEF?”

The now iconic statement first appeared over 30 years ago in a Wendy’s commercial as actress Clara Peller, portraying the hamburger-eating grannie, lamented a lack of substance to her meal.

Back pain treatment today has too much bun for the beef!

Commercialization and hype obscure the fact that our success rates with back pain are inadequate for the amount of money that is being spent and the number of treatments that are promoted.

So…. “WHERE IS THE BEEF?”–Consider just a few of these alarming statistics on back pain:

Lyrica, Neurontin, and Topamax for Low Back and Sciatic Pain-Do They Work?

Lyrica, Neurontin, and Topamax for Low Back and Sciatic Pain-Do They Work?

Introduction:

Over the last 5-10 years the use of anticonvulsants (Neurontin) (Lyrica) to treat low back pain and/or sciatica has increased dramatically. This has occurred despite clinical guidelines that recommend non-pharmacologic interventions rather than the use of stronger analgesics such as opioids and anticonvulsants. (1, 2)

Physicians are increasingly prescribing both gabapentin (Neurontin) and pregabalin (Lyrica) for almost any type of pain, according to a perspective published in the New England Journal of Medicine. (3) This is occurring despite the FDA only approving both drugs for postherpetic neuralgia, fibromyalgia and neuropathic pain due to diabetes or spinal cord injury.

Low Back Pain and Narcotics-Are They Really Effective?

Low Back Pain and Narcotics-Are They Really Effective?

Opioid medications continue to be commonly prescribed for chronic low back pain in the US despite limited evidence of effectiveness, high costs, and serious health risks. (1, 2)

In fact, in the United States, opioid prescriptions are now 3 times higher than in 1999, 4 times more than the prescription rate in Europe, and 12 times higher as compared to opioid use for chronic low back pain in Portugal. (3, 4)

A recent study, published in Oct. 2019, about opioid use for chronic low back pain in the United States revealed the following: (5)

  • Opioid analgesics were the most commonly used medication, taken within the past 30 days, by 18.8% of working-age Americans with chronic low back pain.

  • The average duration of opioid analgesic use for those with chronic low back pain was 702 days.

  • 76.9% of current opioid users with chronic low back pain reported taking opioids for 1 year or longer.

  • 9.8% of Americans with chronic low back pain used an opioid with acetaminophen, accounting for over half of the reported opioids and virtually all reported acetaminophen in this population.

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