Yoga classes were linked to better back-related function and diminished symptoms from chronic low back pain in the largest U.S. randomized controlled trial of yoga to date, published by the Archives of Internal Medicine as an "Online First" article on October 24. But so were intensive stretching classes. "We found yoga classes more effective than a self-care book - but no more effective than stretching classes," said study leader Karen J. Sherman, PhD, MPH, a senior investigator at Group Health Research Institute...

For people receiving health care for acute and persistent low-back pain, symptoms will improve significantly in the first six weeks, but pain and disability may linger even after one year, states a large study published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). Low-back pain is a common condition that results in ...

Nearly 8 of 10 Americans will experience lower back pain at some time in their lives. Persistent low back pain is a common, incapacitating, costly, and a difficult to treat condition. Many patients might benefit significantly from an individualized, multidisciplinary, team-based model of care that includes access to licensed complementary ...

It appears that spinal injections of etanercept, a new type of anti-inflammatory genetically engineered drug, are not as effective in relieving the severe leg and lower back pain of sciatica, as steroid injections into the spine, the current standard of care, according to a new study reported in the ...

Despite the great promise that injecting a new type of anti-inflammatory pain medicine into the spine could relieve the severe leg and lower back pain of sciatica, a Johns Hopkins-led study has found that the current standard of care with steroid injections still does better. Etanercept, sold by the brand-name ...

Italian researchers at the Catholic University of Sacred Heart in Rome found an important molecular mechanism responsible for low back pain and other acute vertebral problems like cervical axial pain, all due to aging and degeneration of the vertebral column. The team led by Dr. Luigi Aurelio Nasto and Enrico ...

Spine Patient Outcomes Research Trial (SPORT) Provides Lessons in Treatment and Care The Spine Patient Outcomes Research Trial (SPORT) is the first comprehensive study to look at the effectiveness of different treatments for low back and leg pain. It was designed to provide data and outcomes to guide ...

A study published in the March issue of Neurosurgery, the official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons, describes a new method of electrical stimulation that uses an implanted device with three columns of electrodes, which could increase the efficiency of spinal cord stimulation (SCS) for severe back pain. ...