And what does this mean for people with chronic lower back pain?

We read headlines like this: Interventional Procedures Now Included In American Pain Society’s Low Back Guideline – but what does that mean for the people who actually have that low back pain? People who live with chronic pain need answers, not just talk.

The American Pain Society had its annual meeting recently where they discussed the management of chronic low back pain. All medical specialties have certain guidelines for the treatment of specific problems. If you have appendicitis, the doctors normally to A, B, and then C. If you have a problem with your appendix, the doctors will likely do A, Z, and then B and C, and so on. The same thing should exist for low back pain, but is not always followed by all doctors because of the ambiguity of back pain the difficulty in diagnosing the cause.

A panel of physicians reported that their guidelines will include invasive diagnostic tests and how effective they are. They reported that the use of injections into the back for pain relief from herniated discs are an effective option, but treatments such as prolotherapy, Botox, and other types of injections haven’t been proven. The panel also noted that while surgery for lower back pain from disc herniation or spinal stenosis can be effective, the pain often does return eventually. Surgery for other causes are not as successful for the most part.

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