Smoking Cessation Improves Pain In Spine Patients
Smoking is a known risk factor for back pain and disc disease. In a new study presented at the 2013 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), researchers reviewed smoking cessation rates and related pain in 6,779 patients undergoing treatment for spinal disorders with severe axial (spine) or radicular (leg) pain...
Home Aerobic Walking Program As Effective As Clinical Therapy In Treating Lower Back Pain
Lower back pain is a common complaint, and treatment often requires many hours of physical therapy over multiple weekly clinic visits - a costly commitment. Now Dr...
Spinal Cancer: Guidelines For Diagnosis Unsupported In Patients With Lower Back Pain
A new systematic review published in The Cochrane Library has raised doubts as to the effectiveness of "red flag" indicators at both identifying and excluding cancer in patients with lower back pain. The authors of the review concluded that most individual red flags were poor at diagnosing spinal malignancies and call for further studies focused on combinations of red flags...
The Role Stress Plays In Chronic Pain
For chronic pain sufferers, such as people who develop back pain after a car accident, avoiding the harmful effects of stress may be key to managing their condition. This is particularly important for people with a smaller-than-average hippocampus, as these individuals seem to be particularly vulnerable to stress. These are the findings of a study by Dr...
Heavy Loads On The Shoulders Can Cause Nerve Damage In The Hands And Fingers
Trudging from place to place with heavy weights on our backs is an everyday reality, from schoolchildren toting textbooks in backpacks to firefighters and soldiers carrying occupational gear. Muscle and skeletal damage are very real concerns...
High Frequency Stimulation Eases Back Pain
A new device helps reduce severe back and leg pain, significantly improving patients' quality of life, according to research from the Pain Management and Neuromodulation centre at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust. The technology is a new type of spinal cord stimulation, where small leads implanted near the spinal cord send high frequency electrical pulses...