Physical therapy ranks among the top treatment choices of their readers with back pain, according to a new Consumer Reports survey of more than 14,000 Americans who experience the condition. In the survey, PT treatment and other "hands on" therapies outranked treatment by medical specialists and primary care providers. The article also urges caution when using prescription narcotics for back pain.
A growing body of evidence is pointing toward the effectiveness of physical therapist treatment for low back pain, according to the
American Physical Therapy Association (APTA), Alexandria, Va. A review article published in the February 2009 Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons recommended that in most cases of symptomatic lumbar degenerative disc disease, a common cause of low back pain (LBP), the most effective treatment is physical therapy combined with anti-inflammatory medications.
Additionally, a systematic review published in the January issue of Physical Therapy (PTJ), APTA’s scientific journal, found that motor control exercises, a new form of exercise for back pain that has gained the attention of researchers and health practitioners over the past decade, can significantly reduce pain and disability when performed in conjunction with other forms of therapy, in patients with persistent low back pain.
In addition to pointing out the benefits of manual therapy, the Consumer Reports article also urges back pain sufferers to be judicious in their use of prescription medications. According to Orly Avitzur, MD, a board certified neurologist and medical advisor to Consumers Union, who comments in the Consumer Reports piece, half of the respondents to the low-back-pain survey who were prescribed drugs for their pain received an opioid pain reliever in spite of the fact that there is little evidence to support their use in treatment of lower back pain. And, clinical trials have shown, says Avitzur, that 50% of those who take them experience unpleasant side effects, including cramping, vomiting, and nausea.
Avitzur says 25% of users of opioid pain relievers suffer substance-use disorders like overuse. She goes on to say that "prescriptions of opioids among patients with spinal disorders more than doubled from 1997 to 2004" and reports of opioid overdose have risen with the numbers of prescriptions.
In most states patients can now go directly to their physical therapist for treatment without the need for a referral from a physician.
Click here to read the Consumer Reports article.
[Source: APTA]
