10 facts every person should know about back pain
Tags: back pain, etiology, diagnosis, treatment, pain problems, spine, pro
Two articles on PainSci cite O’Sullivan 2019: 1. When to Worry About Low Back Pain 2. The Complete Guide to Low Back Pain
PainSci notes on O’Sullivan 2019:
A highly credible and readable explanation of back pain myths. Lead author Peter O’Sullivan shared the myths and a nice featured infographic in a tweet. Here are the “unhelpful” low back pain beliefs, “culturally endorsed and not supported by evidence,” identified by the authors:
- FALSE: Low back pain is usually a serious medical condition.
- FALSE: Low back pain will become persistent and deteriorate in later life.
- FALSE: Persistent low back pain is always related to tissue damage.
- FALSE: Scans are always needed to detect the cause of low back pain.
- FALSE: Pain related to exercise and movement is always a warning that harm is being done to the spine and a signal to stop or modify activity.
- FALSE: Low back pain is caused by weak “core” muscles and having a strong core protects against future Low back pain.
- FALSE: Repeated spinal loading results in “wear and tear” and tissue damage.
- FALSE: Pain flare-ups are a sign of tissue damage and require rest.
- FALSE: Treatments such as strong medications, injectionss and surgery are effective, and necessary, to treat Low back pain.
related content
Specifically regarding O’Sullivan 2019:
This page is part of the PainScience BIBLIOGRAPHY, which contains plain language summaries of thousands of scientific papers & others sources. It’s like a highly specialized blog. A few highlights:
- Inciting events associated with lumbar disc herniation. Suri 2010 Spine J.
- Prediction of an extruded fragment in lumbar disc patients from clinical presentations. Pople 1994 Spine (Phila Pa 1976).
- Characteristics of patients with low back and leg pain seeking treatment in primary care: baseline results from the ATLAS cohort study. Konstantinou 2015 BMC Musculoskelet Disord.
- Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of universal school-based mindfulness training compared with normal school provision in reducing risk of mental health problems and promoting well-being in adolescence: the MYRIAD cluster randomised controlled trial. Kuyken 2022 Evid Based Ment Health.
- Is there a relationship between throbbing pain and arterial pulsations? Mirza 2012 J Neurosci.