A recent study published in JAMA Internal Medicine, a Journal of the American Medical Association Network publication shows that many patients are getting overly aggressive treatments for their back pain.
This includes physicians increasingly giving patients with back pain narcotic drugs, ordering expensive imaging tests or referring them to other physicians rather than offering them the recommended conservative first line of treatment, which calls for the use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as ibuprofen, aspirin and naproxen, or acetaminophen and physical therapy, according to national guidelines from the American College of Physicians.
“With health care costs soaring, improvements in the management of back pain represent an area of potential cost savings for the health care system while also improving the quality of care,” the study says.
Patients with back pain often get the wrong treatment.
