New Study Confirms What Chiropractors Have Known For Years

Check out this article from Fortune summarizing findings of a recent study:

Next time you are sidelined with back pain, it might not help to reach for the Tylenol.

A study published this week in the journal Lancet concluded that acetaminophen, the drug found in Tylenol, is no better than a placebo or a dummy pill when it comes to alleviating lower back pain, or improving pain levels, sleep or overall quality of life.

Conducted at hundreds of clinics in Sydney, Australia, the study tracked 1,652 individuals with lower back pain for four weeks. They were given either paracetamol (what acetaminophen is known as overseas), or a placebo. In the end, researchers found there was almost no difference in the number of days required to recover between the two groups; the median time to recovery was 17 days in the regular paracetamol group, 17 days in the as-needed paracetamol group, and 16 days in the placebo group.

“Simple analgesics such as paracetamol might not be of primary importance in the management of acute lower back pain”, said Dr. Christopher Williams from the George Institute for Global Health at the University of Sydney in Australia and the lead author of the study.

“The results suggest we need to reconsider the universal recommendation to provide paracetamol as a first-line treatment for low-back pain, although understanding why paracetamol works for other pain states, but not low-back pain, would help direct future treatments,” he said.

Low-back pain is the leading cause of disability worldwide and is big business for pharmaceutical companies. A 2011 report from the Institute of Medicine found that chronic pain effects about 100 million adults and cost the United States $635 billion each year in medical treatment and lost productivity.