Remedies for Lower Back Pain - 5 Remedies were Medically Proven as Ineffective

Back pain disorder is prevalent. Based on American surveys, it is one of the most common excuses for not reporting for work. Based on the rate of its prevalence, survey results also showed that the American population alone spends as much as $50 billion every year for different remedies for lower back pain.

Medical experts believe that there is not perfect solution in treating lumbar disorders. Experts in the medical community also conduct clinical tests regarding the efficiency and effectiveness of other treatments, and unfortunately several remedies for lower back pain were found to be wanting in conclusive evidence to support claims that they are beneficial.

For this purpose, a list of remedies for lower back pain faulted or negated by medical experts as having no beneficial results in treating the back problems, is provided below:

1. Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation or TENS

A doctor from the University of Washington published a report in the New England Journal of Medicine that TENS does nothing to really treat lower back pains except provide placebo effect. This was proven among 145 clinically tested patients who were divided into groups that would use either genuine or fake TENS machine.

Clinical conclusion shows that all 145 patients claimed to feel better after the treatment and all of them claimed there were improvements. By the end of the 2nd month, all 145 patients reported the recurrence of their back pains.

2. Spinal Manipulation Therapy (SMT)

Similar studies were also made by two universities in two separate occasions, conducted by two different sets of medical experts. They arrived at the same conclusion that the effects of Spinal Manipulation Therapy are no better that the relief derived from acetaminophens.

3. Back Belts or Lumbar Back Support

As more employers required the use of back belts from their workers, investigators from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health disclosed in their findings that back belts had no conclusive evidence in preventing low back pain.

In another study conducted at the Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine, their conclusion about back belts as one of the remedies for lower back pain has no direct effect for the treatment of any one cause of lumbar disorder. The belt merely provided comfort as it braces the lower back area.

4. Magnet Therapies

Researchers from a group known as Focus in Alternative and Complementary Therapies reviewed results of clinical studies about the effect of magnet therapies. The overall results showed that this particular therapy showed no significant improvement in the conditions of the patients tested, except for some pain relief in knee osteoarthritis present in some of the patients. Hence, claims that magnet therapies are effective remedies for lower back pain were negated.

5. Percutaneous Intradiscal Radiofrequency Thermocoagulation (PIRFT)

This technique involved inserting a needle directly to the affected disc and will apply radiofrequency to produce heat inside the disc. Accordingly, the heat build up inside will stop the disc nerves from sending out pain messages to the brain. A group of doctors conducted a new research and clinical study and have published their findings in a book.

Remedies for lower back pain abound yet not all of them are proven effective, based on the information gathered above. Thus, it is always best for a patient to conduct his own research or consult his physician, in order to avoid unnecessary treatments that have no full medical support.