Researchers looked at 98 studies involving a total of more than 15,000 people concerning painkillers for back pain, without a specific cause. And there is no conclusive evidence of a truly effective drug treatment.
Géraldine Zamansky, journalist for the Magazine de la Santé on France 5, examines this evil of the century and comes back to recent studies which do not lead to good news for all those who dream of a miracle pill against back pain.
franceinfo: By examining all the recent evaluations of treatment against this evil of the century, an Australian team found no conclusive results?
Géraldine Zamansky : Exactly, and even on the phone, I can tell you that I really felt the disappointment of Professor James McAuley, coordinator of this enormous work at the University of New South Wales, a state in the south-east of Australia. His team’s goal, it was to establish, especially for general practitioners, a ranking of the most effective treatments against acute pain in the lower back. These intense pains which arise more or less suddenly, as with the famous lumbago.
So they found 98 clinical trials, created to evaluate a total of 69 drugs, sometimes associated. But each time, their quality was too low to succeed in scientifically distinguishing the best options. With, for example, suspicious positive results, because the comparison with the placebo was very favorable, but strangely, in the group under placebo precisely, the pain never decreased. While Professor MacAuley is formal: in general, in three weeks even without treatment, it is always better. So I sum up, it’s fishy.
If there is a lack of evidence on the treatments and the improvement can take place naturally, it is urgent to wait without taking anything?
Well, anyone who has had lumbago will tell you that it’s impossible, it’s so painful. But Professor McAuley gave me the prescription he prescribes for his mother in these cases. “If you really have a lot of pain, lie down for a few hours, but especially not more than 2 days, because afterwards, we now know that the lack of movement makes everything worse. And take paracetamol. “
I assure you, this eminent neuroscientist knows that paracetamol is not a powerful painkiller. But at least it’s not too dangerous in a controlled dose, and it can trigger the placebo effect. The hope of improvement helps to move again, and this movement is beneficial.
Any move?
No, you are right. For this Australian specialist, these pains signal that it is necessary to change what triggered them. So, move more, if it’s after long hours in front of the computer. Or take a little walk after too much gardening. And above all, try to avoid certain medications. Because, failing to have revealed the best, their analysis has particularly confirmed the risks of Tramadol from the opioid family.
