Adjunctive CAM Therapy Effective for Lower Back Pain

An estimated 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 difficult to treat condition. David M. Eisenberg, from Harvard Medical School (Massachusetts, USA), and colleagues compared conventional therapy alone—defined as “usual care”—to the combination of an integrated program of complementary and alternative medical (CAM) therapies plus usual care, for the treatment of lower back pain.  CAM therapies were provided by a trained team of healthcare practitioners and included acupuncture, chiropractic, massage therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, mind-body techniques, and nutritional counseling.  Studying 20 individuals with lower back pain of 3–12 weeks’ duration, who were recruited from an occupational health clinic and community health center, the team observed significant differences between the two randomized patient groups in outcomes which included pain, functional status, and difficulty performing routine, self-identified challenging activities.  Writing that: “It was feasible for a multidisciplinary, outpatient [integrative care] team to deliver coordinated, individualized intervention to patients with subacute [lower back pain],”the study authors submit that:  “Results showed a promising trend for benefit of treating patients with persistent [lower back pain] with this [integrative care] model.”