Drugs and Back Pain....

Here is an article that has to make you take a step back and think....

Naproxen Alone Wins for Relieving Lower Back Pain - Adding cyclobenzaprine or Percocet fails to improve pain or function

"LBP is responsible for more than 2.7 million visits to U.S. EDs annually, pointed out Friedman and colleagues. In most cases, patients are treated with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, acetaminophen, opioids, or skeletal muscle relaxants, often in combination, they said."

"Pain outcomes for these patients are generally poor," wrote the authors."

"adding cyclobenzaprine or oxycodone/acetaminophen (Percocet) to naproxen alone did not improve functional outcomes or pain [emphasis added] at 1-week follow-up, a randomized, double-blind, three-group study has shown."

So, let's summarize:

1. Low back pain is responsible for millions of ER visits and much pain.

2. Most patients are "treated" with several drugs at the same time.

3. The research says that pain outcomes for those treated this way are poor.

4. Adding all these drugs together is no more effective than one drug (naproxen) alone.

Hmmm. The medical profession/big pharma does not make the effort to "study" multi-drug therapy for both efficacy and safety with regard to back pain BEFORE determining a treatment protocol. So they simply start prescribing multiple drugs to everyone. Years later, the "evidence" shows that this multi-drug therapy (polypharmacy) is no more effective than one drug alone.

And this article makes no mention of the terrible side effects of these drugs. Read:

Institutional Corruption of Pharmaceuticals and the Myth of Safe and Effective Drugs

Harvard University Medical Ethics Blog: New Prescription Drugs: A Major Health Risk With Few Offsetting Advantages

And, of course, there is the requiste commentary always found in conventional medical articles:

"Remaining active leads to a better outcomes than bed rest, said the investigators, although they acknowledged that complementary therapies such as acupuncture, yoga, and massage have been inadequately studied in an acute LBP population."

Gee, overmedicated with potentially devastating "side-effects", or movement, hand on therapy, and good nutrition (Turmeric anyone?). You choose....