Deliver Your News to the World

New Low Back Pain Treatment Guidelines Recommend Drug-Free Therapies First

Chronic pain expert Cindy Perlin says these guidelines are long overdue but they won’t help pain patients unless health insurers are required to reimburse for alternative pain treatments.


Albany, NY, USA – WEBWIRE

Too many pain patients have been harmed by poorly vetted medications while safer, more effective treatments have been ignored,” says Perlin.

New low back pain treatment guidelines from the American College of Physicians (ACP) were published last week in the Annals of Internal Medicine.  Based on a review of the evidence, the ACP concluded that pharmacological interventions for low back pain offered fewer benefits and greater risks than nonpharmacological therapy.
 
The ACP now strongly recommends that low back pain be treated with alternative therapies including massage, acupuncture, spinal manipulation, exercise, multidisciplinary rehabilitation, mindfulness-based stress reduction, tai chi, yoga, biofeedback, low-level laser therapy or cognitive-behavioral therapy.  It further recommends that pharmacological treatment should be considered only if these treatments fail and that the preferred drug option is nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.  The ACP advised that opioids should be used only as a last resort and only after weighing whether the potential benefits outweigh the risks.
 
According to chronic pain expert Cindy Perlin, author of “The Truth About Chronic Pain Treatments: The Best and Worst Strategies for Becoming Pain Free,” these recommendations are long overdue.  “Too many pain patients have been harmed by poorly vetted medications while safer, more effective treatments have been ignored,” says Perlin. However, she adds, “These new guidelines won’t help most pain patients because health insurers refuse to pay for the recommended treatments and few patients can afford to pay for them out of pocket. Insurers need to be required to pay for these therapies.”  Perlin has developed a legislative proposal to address this problem, the Pain Treatment Parity Act, and has a petition on Change.org to encourage its adoption.
 
Perlin is a licensed clinical social worker, certified biofeedback practitioner and chronic pain survivor.  More information can be found at www.cindyperlin.com .
 
 



WebWireID207882




 
 low back pain
 treatment guidelines
 alternative therapies
 chronic pain
 health insurance


This news content may be integrated into any legitimate news gathering and publishing effort. Linking is permitted.

News Release Distribution and Press Release Distribution Services Provided by WebWire.