Consumer Reports’ “Choosing Wisely” Campaign for Low Back Pain
FROM: 28th Annual Meeting, the North American Spine Society (NASS)
Five Things Physicians and Patients Should Question:
Don’t recommend advanced imaging (e.g., MRI) of the spine within the first six weeks in patients with non-specific acute low back pain in the absence of red flags.
Don’t perform elective spinal injections without imaging guidance, unless contraindicated.
Don’t use bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) for routine anterior cervical spine fusion surgery.
Don’t use electromyography (EMG) and nerve conduction studies (NCS) to determine the cause of axial lumbar, thoracic or cervical spine pain.
Don’t recommend bed rest for more than 48 hours when treating low back pain.
How the health care system is making pain patients worse:
…"Yet there is an answer to chronic pain that many physicians and pain specialists have agreed upon for years: multidisciplinary treatment. The “team” consists of a physician who uses a biopsychosocial approach to chronic pain and a multidisciplinary team"…Read More:
