Back Pain Treatment
Pamidronate is a medication and has been around for many years. It’s a medication for bone loss and was originally given to patients with high levels of calcium in the blood or to patients suffering from cancer affecting their bones. The drug reduced the level of calcium in their blood. We’re still using the drug for hypocalcemia, but it is now also extended to patients with bone loss, or osteoporosis. This is because the drug blocks the activity of the cell, or osteoclast, and by doing that prevents osteoporosis and keeps the level of calcium in the blood low. Fosamax is one medication that was developed. The problem with pills is that one common side effect is they cause irritation to the esophagus and stomach.
We started using the drug pamidronate in patients with osteoporosis and back pain, because obviously there is an overlap and nobody has ever done a study. It’s very difficult to do a study of this kind. They’re both very prevalent disorders. Osteoporosis, chronic back pain and degeneration of the spine, arthritis of the spine are three entities extremely prevalent in the body.
It is very difficult to do studies and try to see any correlation or any interaction between essentially degeneration, osteoporosis and result back pain. The medication was also used in patients with minimal bone loss and patients with back pain and recording benefit.
The future of back pain treatment is going to be multiple avenues — comprehensive, holistic … It’s not going to be just one type of agent in patients with chronic back pain. The reason is because of the complexity of pain and the changes that these individuals have in their lives. So one, definitely one thing is to reduce their pain, but then they have to adjust to a new style of life. It’s going to be in prevention of flair ups, for example, because it’s a pain that comes and goes, a pain that is triggered by activity. It’s going to involve an early medication and early physical therapy to recondition the patient’s body, and also educating the patient to prevent bad habits, bad positions or bad activities if you want.
Source: Ivanhoe News
