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Regular Opioid Pain Killer use Linked To Erectile Dysfunction in Men

May 16, 2013 by Leave a Comment

In a newly published research published in May issue of Spine, it has been reported that persons who regularly take opoid painkillers are associated with higher risk of erectile dysfunction.

The study  was a cross-sectional analysis of electronic medical and pharmacy records.

Electronic records of 11327 males with back pain  were studied  to find out if the men taking prescription painkillers were more likely to also receive prescriptions for testosterone replacement or ED medications.

Opioid use was categorized as

  • “none” for men who did not receive a prescription for opioids
  • “acute” for men who took opioids for three months or less
  • “episodic” for men who took opioids for more than three months, but less than four months and with fewer than 10 refills
  •  “long-term” for men who took opioids (a) for at least four months or (b) for more than three months with 10 or more refills.

Anything more than 120 mg of morphine equivalent was categorized as high-dose use. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Back Pain, News, Pain Management Tagged With: , , , ,

Chronic Low Back Pain Linked To Bacterial Infection

May 11, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Forty percent of the chronic lower back pain could be caused by bacteria and a significant percentage of people with lower back pain following a herniated disc. This has been suggested by investigators from University of Southern Denmark.

The researchers further suggest that antibiotics may be considered as a treatment option for patients with chronic low back pain in selected patients.

Their findings, published in two papers, published in the April issue of the European Spine Journal.

The study included 61 adults (mean age, 46.4 years; 27% female) who had MRI-confirmed lumbar disc herniation and were undergoing surgery.

Pages: 1 2

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Surgical and Nonsurgical Treatment For Lumbar Disc Herniation Have Poorer Outcomes In Obese

January 12, 2013 by Leave a Comment

According to new research published in the January 2013 Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, obese patients are more likely to have poorer outcomes after receiving surgical and nonsurgical lumbar disc treatment.

The study included 854 nonobese patients with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of less than 30 kg/m², and 336 obese patients with a BMI greater than 30 kg/m², enrolled in the Spine Patient Outcomes Research Trial (SPORT) for the treatment of lumbar disc herniation.

Patient demographic and clinical characteristics at beginning were compiled and patients were followed up regularly for four years. [Read more...]

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Oswestry Disability Index

December 16, 2012 by Leave a Comment

The Oswestry Disability Index has  emerged as the most commonly recommended condition speci?c outcome measures for spinal disorders.

The development of the Oswestry Disability Index was initiated by John O’Brien in 1976

The index is based on patient-completed questionnaire which gives a subjective percentage score of level of function (disability) in activities of daily living in those rehabilitating from low back pain.

Here is the questionnaire that patient receives [Read more...]

Filed Under: Back Pain, Scores-Indexes Tagged With: , , , ,

Back Pain Improves Substantially When You Quit Smoking, Study Reports

December 14, 2012 by Leave a Comment

A recent study published in Bone and Joint Surgery [American] has reported that patients with spinal disorders who quit smoking may experience substantial improvements in back pain.

The study by Behrend and colleagues has been published in December issue of the journal.

The authors studies examined a prospectively maintained database of records for 5333 patients with backpain or radicular pain from a spinal disorder with regard to smoking history. Patient assessment of pain on four visual analog scales during the course of care was also analyzed.

Confounding factors, including secondary gain, sex, age, and body mass index, were also examined.

The mean duration of follow-up was eight months. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Back Pain, News, Spine Tagged With: , ,

Epidural Steroid Injections For Backpain May Increase Vertebral Fractures

October 27, 2012 by Leave a Comment

A new study funded by Henry Ford Hospital has reported that  risk of vertebral fractures increases  in patients who receive epidural injections for back pain.

It is a retrospective study that involved 6,000 patients[3840 -women, 2160-men] treated for back pain between 2007 and 2010. The study’s lead author is Shlomo Mandel who is also a physician in Henry Ford hospital.

About  3,000 patients received at least one steroid injection and 3,000 patients did not receive steroid injection.

The mean age of patients was 66 years.

Incidence of bone fractures in each group was analyzed. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Back Pain, Osteoporosis, Trauma Tagged With: , , ,

Cross-Country Skiers, Rowers Do Not Have More Low Back Pain – New Study

September 25, 2012 by Leave a Comment

A new study published in American Journal Of Sports Medicine have stated that  rowers and cross-country skiers may not have any more chronic lower back pain than general population despite the constant stress.

A level 2 cohort study, conducted by Foss and colleagues over a period of 10 years, has been published on September 12 online first articles on American Journal of Sports Medicine.

The authors did the study because some cross-sectional studies suggested that the prevalence of low back pain  may be high among endurance athletes with repetitive back loading but any large study on this issue was not available.

The study was done with a purpose of comparing prevalence of symptoms of low back pain among former endurance athletes with different loading characteristics on the lumbar region as well as nonathletic control group. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Back Pain, News, Sports Injuries Tagged With: , , , ,

What Are Types of Low Back Pain?

May 19, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Back pain back pain is a symptom and the cause of the pain may occur within spine or a lesion outside spine.

Generally speaking a pain in the back could be classified into following types.

Spondylogenic Back Pain

Spondylogenic back pain is the back pain which originates in the spinal column and its associated structures. This type of back pain worsened by general and specific activities and is relieved by rest.

The lesions leading to this pain could be in bony components of spine, sacroiliac joints or changes in soft tissues like discs, ligaments, and muscles. [Read more...]

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Degenerative Spondylosis – Presentation, Diagnosis and Treatment

April 6, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Degenrative spondylolistheis was first described by Rosenberg in 1975. The most commonly affected level is L4-L5 followed bby L3-L4. It may occur at two levels or even three levels simultaneously.

It has also been reported in cervical spine.

Occurrence

Degenerative spondylolisthesis is more common in people over age 50. It is more common in women and blacks.

Cause

Facet joints of the vertebral column restrain the motion of the spine [Allow flexion and extension but restrict rotational movements] while the disc itself acts as shock absorber. With age, as the degeneration sets, the facet joint may not remain competent and allow vertebral body to slip forward on the other. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Back Pain, Spine, Thoracic-Lumbar Sacral Spine Tagged With: , , ,

Developmental Spondylolisthesis – Cause, Diagnosis and Treament

March 26, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Spondylolisthesis is present in 5% of the population and there is no gender difference in occurrence.

Most spondylolistheses in children and adolescents are developmental.

This type of spondylolisthesis  generally is not noticed until later in childhood or even in adult life.

Etiology and Natural History

Developmntal stenosis needs to be differentiated from acquired traumatic spondylolisthesis caused by stress fracture. Trauamtic sopndylolisthesis following a stress fracture occurs in individuals with no posterior element dysplasia and with normal spino pelvic morphology.

Following conditions are thought to represent a continuum of disease [Read more...]

Filed Under: Back Pain, Spine, Thoracic-Lumbar Sacral Spine Tagged With: , , , , ,

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