Back Pain News and Research

Latest Back Pain News and Research

Defining healthcare needs for chronic illness

A research paper in the latest issue of Medical Journal of Australia has provided the first insight into the prevalence and patterns of multimorbidity in Australia. About three in 10 people who saw a GP in 2005, and one in four Australians have multimorbidity (two or more types of chronic conditions).

22 Jul 2008

Back pain recovery slower than common belief suggests

A study by Australian researchers has found that recovery from low back pain is much slower than previously thought and is even slower for those with an injury which warrants compensation.

9 Jul 2008

ExpIND process speeds Alzheimer's drug research

Researchers are actively cutting the time and cost it normally takes to develop radiopharmaceuticals by taking advantage of "Exploratory Investigational New Drug" (ExpIND), an FDA-sanctioned procedure that enhances post-discovery drug development while observing scientific and patient safety standards.

16 Jun 2008

New treatments for lower back pain tested

"This is one of the most frustrating complaints that patients have as they get older." Physicians are testing two drugs approved to treat other conditions to see whether they might also help patients who have severe pain in their lower back and in their legs.

11 Jun 2008

Majority of kidney cancers diagnosed at earliest stage

Patients in the United States today are now much more likely to be diagnosed with smaller tumors, in the earliest, most treatable stage of kidney cancer than a decade ago, leading to a slightly higher survival rate, according to the results of a national study led by a UC San Diego Medical Center researcher.

19 May 2008

New guidelines say botulinum toxin effective for many neurological disorders, but not headache

New guidelines developed by the American Academy of Neurology confirm that the drug botulinum toxin is safe and effective for treating a variety of neurological conditions. Surprisingly, the drug may not be effective for chronic headaches, accrding to Allison Brashear, M.D., professor and chairman of the Department of Neurology at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, who helped develop the guidelines.

9 May 2008

Botulinum toxin is safe and effective for treating cervical dystonia

New guidelines developed by the American Academy of Neurology confirm that the drug botulinum toxin is safe and effective for treating cervical dystonia, a condition of involuntary head tilt or neck movement, spasticity and other forms of muscle overactivity that interfere with movement in adults and children with an upper motor neuron syndrome, and excessive sweating of the armpits and hands.

5 May 2008

Gastric bypass surgery and effect on lower back pain

The prevalence of both obesity and back pain in developing nations has reached alarming levels. According to recent statistics, more than one-third of U.S. adults - over 72 million people were obese in 2005-2006. Of these, 33.3 percent were men and 35.3 percent were women. Especially alarming is that obesity has not decreased among teenagers - the rates remain essentially unchanged in 2005-2006 from the 2003-2004 estimates, at 17 percent.

29 Apr 2008

FDA approves Actonel (risedronate sodium) for postmenopausal osteoporosis

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a new once-a-month dose (150 mg) of Actonel (risedronate sodium) tablets for the treatment and prevention of postmenopausal osteoporosis. Actonel is approved to reduce the risk of fractures in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis.

24 Apr 2008

Lumbar supports for prevention and treatment of low back pain

Lumbar or lower back supports - those large belts that people wear around their waists when they lift or carry heavy objects - are not very useful for preventing low back pain, according to a new systematic review.

22 Apr 2008

Back pain problems may be more a matter of genetics than physical strain

What do you learn by looking at the spines of hundreds of Finnish twins?

9 Apr 2008

Femara helps protect against return of breast cancer after completing Tamoxifen therapy

Women may reduce the risk of their breast cancer returning by starting treatment with Femara (letrozole tablets) anywhere from one to seven years after finishing tamoxifen therapy, according to a new analysis published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

11 Mar 2008