7 Weird Reasons Your Back Hurts 4. Infection in the discs of the spine Last year, Danish scientists made a surprising discovery that could explain and treat low back discomfort in many people. Doctors had noticed that MRI scans of people with back pain often showed abnormal stripes on the spine structures, called Modic changes. “We see them commonly and we always thought the explanation was some swelling in bone that was part of the degenerative process,” Friedman said. Experts also suspected that these changes were somehow related to back pain. “In the general population, about 5 to 6 percent of people have Modic changes, but about 30 to 40 percent of people with low back pain have them.” In their first study, the Danish researchers took samples of disc material from people undergoing herniated disc surgery. The scientists grew cultures and found that nearly half of patients had infections in the spinal material. In a second study, 162 patients with Modic changes and chronic back pain took either antibiotics or a placebo for 100 days. The antibiotics significantly relieved soreness by the end of the treatment and one year after the study. “If this can be replicated, it may be a paradigm shift in a subset of back pain,” Friedman said. Since the study findings are still new, don’t rush to antibiotic treatment if you’ve been diagnosed with Modic changes, he cautioned. Instead, see a spine specialist, who may consult an infectious disease doctor to determine the best treatment for you. https://yahoo/health/7-weird-reasons-your-back-hurts-and-what-to-do-about-101652689922.html #LookforLyme #Lyme
Posted on: Sun, 18 Jan 2015 21:19:55 +0000
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