Low Back Pain - Related Resources

Physical therapy and exercise

Surgical therapy

• The evidence on the surgical interventions of spinal decompression, nerve root decompression, and fusion of adjacent vertebrae in the treatment of degenerative lumbar spondylosis is limited and conflicting Fusion Surgery for Degenerative Lumbar Spondylosis.
• There is insufficient evidence to support the use of injection therapy in subacute and chronic low-back pain. However, it cannot be ruled out that specific subgroups of patients may respond to a specific type of injection therapy Injection Therapy for Subacute and Chronic Low-Back Pain.
• Radiofrequency denervation appears to offer short-term relief for chronic neck pain of zygapophyseal joint origin and for chronic cervicobrachial pain Radiofrequency Denervation for Neck and Back Pain.
• Interventional pain management techniques, percutaneous adhesiolysis and spinal endoscopy, may be effective interventions to treat low back and lower extremity pain caused by epidural adhesions Effectiveness and Complications of Adhesiolysis in the Management of Chronic Spinal Pain.

Pharmaceutical therapy

• Harpagophytum procumbens (devil's claw) and Salix alba (white willow bark) appear to reduce pain more than placebo in non-specific low-back pain Herbal Medicine for Low Back Pain.

Patient education

• Operant therapy appears to be more effective than waiting list and behavioural therapy more effective than usual care for short-term pain relief in chronic low back pain patientsBehavioural Treatments for Chronic Low Back Pain.
• Training workers about proper material handling techniques or providing them with assistive devices appear not to be effective interventions by themselves in preventing back pain. Manual Material Handling Advice and Assistive Devices for Preventing and Treating Back Pain in Workers.
• Back-schools appear to be effective for patients with recurrent and chronic low back pain in occupational settings Back Schools for Chronic Non-Specific Low Back Pain.

Others

• When used in isolation, most physical tests used to identify lumbar disc herniation may have poor diagnostic performance Physical Examination for Lumbar Radiculopathy in Low-Back Pain.