Articles: low-back-pain.
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To determine the proportion of chronic low back pain patients who achieve a clinically meaningful response from different pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic treatments. ⋯ Exercise, oral NSAIDs, and SNRIs (duloxetine) provide a clinically meaningful reduction in pain, with exercise being the only intervention that demonstrated sustained benefit after the intervention ended. Future high-quality trials that report responder analyses are required to provide a better understanding of the benefits and harms of interventions for patients with chronic low back pain.
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Background: Chronic lumbar radicular pain often accompanies neuropathic pain. The treatment may follow a screening for probable neuropathic pain rather than the definitive diagnosis, which is often difficult in daily practice. However, interventional management may have limited effects on symptoms in patients with neuropathic radicular pain refractory to conservative treatments. ⋯ After adjusting in multivariate regression analysis, the DN4 score was independently associated with response after lumbar epidural intervention (odds ratio [OR]=0.838; 95% confidence interval [CI]=0.718-0.978; P=0.025). In subgroup logistic regression analysis according to the DN4 score, adjuvant administration of hypertonic saline during epidural interventions in patients with a DN4 score ≥4 (OR=3.71; CI=1.142-12.457; P=0.029) was associated with the success of the lumbar epidural procedure at 1 month. Conclusion: The adjuvant use of hypertonic saline in lumbar epidural interventions may be effective at least 1 month after the intervention in patients with probable neuropathic lumbar radicular pain ≥4 using the DN4.
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Chronic low back pain (CLBP) incurs huge costs owing to increased healthcare expenditure, disability, insurance, and work absenteeism. Opioid analgesics are commonly used for the management of CLBP. ⋯ Oxymorphone has an advantage over other opioids to reduce pain by 30% and 50% in patients with CLBP.
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Epidural injections have been extensively used since their description in 1901, and steroids since their first utilization in 1952. Multiple randomized controlled trials and systematic reviews have reached discordant conclusions regarding the effectiveness of sodium chloride solution and steroids in managing spinal pain. True placebo-controlled trials with the injection of an inactive substance to unrelated structures have been nonexistent. Consequently, the discussions continue to escalate, seemingly without proper discourse. In this review, we sought to assess the true placebo nature of saline and the effectiveness of steroids. ⋯ The findings of this systematic review and meta-analysis show that epidurally administered sodium chloride solution and sodium chloride solution with steroids may be effective in managing low back and lower extremity pain. Consequently, the findings of this review provide information that epidurally administered sodium chloride solution is not a true placebo.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
The effect of in-session exposure in Fear-Avoidance treatment of chronic low back pain: A randomized controlled trial.
Treatment based on the Fear-Avoidance (FA) model has been found to be effective with chronic low back pain (CLBP), and in-vivo exposure of fear evoking movements is proposed as a key change mechanism. Exposure tasks may be conducted in the session (in-session exposure; ISE), in other real-life situations (between sessions exposure) as part of homework assignments, or both. Utilising a randomized, controlled dismantling study design, the aim of this study was to examine the unique effects of ISE in FA-treatment of CLBP. ⋯ This study adds to the existing research literature demonstrating FA-treatment to be effective with CLBP, but further experimental studies are needed in order to examine under what circumstances ISE of feared movements may add to positive treatment outcomes.