Back Pain Treatments Often Found Ineffective, Study Reveals

Quick Summary

• A study published in BMJ Evidence Based Medicine found that only around 10% of non-surgical treatments for lower back pain are effective.
• The research reviewed 301 prior studies, encompassing 56 different treatments for acute and chronic back pain.
• For temporary (acute) back pain, NSAIDs like ibuprofen and naproxen offer some relief. For chronic back pain, therapies include exercise, spinal manipulation, certain drugs, and antidepressants. These had limited success compared to placebo effects.
• Aidan cashin from the University of New South Wales noted that most lower back pain has no identifiable cause and is classified as “non-specific.” The study could not conclusively establish which treatments should be prioritized or discarded due to a lack of reliable large-effect evidence.

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Indian Opinion Analysis
The findings have notable implications for India, where musculoskeletal disorders such as back pain are prevalent due to factors like sedentary lifestyles in urban centers and physically taxing labor in rural areas. Limited efficacy of conventional treatments underscores the need for IndiaS healthcare system to focus on developing cost-effective interventions suited to diverse socio-economic contexts.

The research also calls attention to India’s conventional wellness systems like yoga and Ayurveda-commonly used for spinal health-that may warrant rigorous scientific evaluation against placebo benchmarks. With global underwhelming results on existing therapies, forging data-backed advancements could position India as a leader in addressing this growing public health challenge systematically.