Kevin MD recently posted an article where he reviewed the effectiveness of various injections commonly used for low back pain. These consist of  local anesthetics, steroids like cortisone, and pain meds. The article included a summary of an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association, as well as notes from a couple of other reviews previously done on whether injections work well for low back pain. The news wasn’t good:

In a review of 18 trials, only 6 found that the injections had a positive effect. The authors of this review concluded …

You can’t win, can you. A new study has suggested that ” males with high blood concentrations of omega-3 fatty acids are at a higher risk of developing prostate cancer.” Everything I’ve ever read on fish oils suggests that they help with inflammation and that omega 3 fatty acids are great for your brain. In fact I posted something on it not that long ago…
Luckily, sanity prevailed:
Dr. Iain Frame, director of research at Prostate Cancer UK, says men reading about the results of this research should not panic about their omega-3 intake. Dr. …

This sounds pretty sweet. I have been a huge fan of Vitamin D for years, and now a new study has found that t can help speed up the recovery of muscle injuries. The link to the full article is here but I wouldn’t suggest you try to read it. No offence, it’s just that they use phrases like  “Vitamin D is a pleiotropic micronutrient that influences health across a range of physiological and pathophysiological conditions in humans”. I mean, come on. Anyway, all you need to know is that after a …

New research is suggesting that bacterial infections might be the source of disc related pain. It’s an interesting mechanism – the bacteria, which exist in the mouth and hair, can be moved into the bloodstream by brushing of the teeth. They can be deposited into the disc as part of the body’s response to injury and once there can proliferate and be a source of pain. According to researchers, this could potentially be involved in up to 80% of back pain cases. The full article can be found here . I know …

This article came out late last year but I’m a little slow I guess. A study which followed nearly 10,000 adults found that those who regularly used natural supplements to reduce inflammation had the following results:

intake of glucosamine decreased inflammation by 17%,
chondroitin led to a 22% decrease in inflammatory markersand
fish oil lowered levels of inflammatory markers by 16%

It;s good news for anyone looking to limit or reduce the use of pharmaceuticals, as some medications have been linked to an increased risk of cardiac events.

In a recent article I read on theconversation.edu.au, it was reported that “In 2010, the promotion of the Nurofen range of products “targeting” migraine, back pain, tension headache and period pain was awarded a CHOICE shonky award.”
The take home message of their review was that the different flavours of Nurofen claim to ‘target’ specific sites all contain the exact same active ingredient (Ibuprofen) in the exact same dosage. And there has been no research to prove that Ibuprofen specifically acts at one point rather than another.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) in …

Following on from my last article on the risks associated with the use of common over the counter anti-inflammatory medications, I wanted to see what the other options were and more importantly, how effective they are. I found an article which compared the results of 47 different studies on the effectiveness of different forms of ‘non tablet’ anti-inflammatories, ie gels, sprays, and creams. The attraction of these options is that there are none of the associated systemic adverse events.
The results of 47 studies were included. In these studies, the gels/creams/sprays …

It was quite an alarming series of headlines last week as news broke of a large scale analysis of the risks associated with the use of common over the counter anti-inflammatory medications. “Common painkillers linked to heart disease” reported The Australian, along with “The findings confirm that drugs such as Nurofen and Voltaren can significantly increase the risk of heart attack and stroke.”
Previous studies have examined these medications mostly on an individual basis, but this study tried to compare their relative risks, in short it asked the question “which NSAID is …

I wanted to do a short article on the recent findings with respect to common anti-inflammatory medications (NSAIDs). You may or may not have heard that a number of these drugs have had warnings issued regarding their use after research discovered they had the potential to have serious side effects.
Talking to patients, I felt that not enough people were aware of the current state of affairs.
These are medications you may have had prescribed or bought over the counter for arthritis, back pain, headaches, sports injuries and many other everyday complaints.
Voltaren …