Accurately Treating Lower Back Pain

Arthritis-related back pain accounts for 15 percent of all chronic lower back pain, according to Reuters, and current “management guidelines” might be hindering how affective a pain specialist or family physician might be able to treat the pain.



“Today, doctors perform one or two so-called diagnostic nerve blocks, in which they inject anesthetics into the joints of the spine. If the blocks alleviate the pain, it's likely that the joint was the culprit.



The next step is to burn the nerves that carry pain signals from the joint with radiofrequency waves, a procedure used in hundreds of thousands of Americans every year, according to Dr. Steven P. Cohen of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.” – Reuters Health



New research suggests that performing the diagnostic nerve blocks, along with some excessive testing, is doing nothing more than delaying pain relief and wasting thousands of dollars. While an accurate diagnosis is the most crucial step in pain management, studies show that wasteful spending and wasting time only leaves a patient suffering.



The new research, published in the journal Anesthesiology, suggests skipping the excessive testing and nerve blocks all-together, opting for going directly to radiofrequency treatment. Fifty-percent of patients in the study found “pain relief for at least three months,” while only 16 percent of those who were treated with nerve blocks saw improvement.



If you’re suffering from arthritis related back pain, speak to your Arizona pain specialist immediately.