Antibiotics cure 40% of chronic back pain: study

[15angelpc]

Has anyone read about this and what do they think about this. Could it be so simple ?

[Calceolaria]

There's loads of stuff on here about it angel but you will need to browse. Apparently very successful for certain types of back pain.

[Hidden]

Hello

I remember a few years ago reading some some report or other saying that arthritis is related to infection,Although it was up there in the either and I did not take any notice of it at that time,so I take it as an interesting fact

All the best

BOB

[Hidden]

Yes, loads of chat about it, and papers and reports on here.

It can help some back pain. Simply there is a link to bacteria settling in the spinal bones, the bone swells and pushing discs out of line. A 3 month course of antibiotics sorts it with good results after 1 year.

By same theory, other bones and joints may be affected which may be why some people feel pain moving around their joints and bones. Not seen any papers on this though.

Yes, it can be that simple. Why its taken so long to discover it is more the question to be asking.

[15angelpc]

Thanks for that info. What would you advise if my present consultant seems to think there's no mileage in looking at this in my case?

[johnsmith]

Actually it not that other bones and joints are affected it is muscles and muscle functioning is affected. A muscle that is not functioning as it should can cause a lot of joint pain. I have a very sore shoulder joint at the moment. The soreness is caused by the muscle spasms I keep getting which cause the shoulder joint to bruise against part of the shoulder.

X-rays and MRI will show damage in my shoulder it does not show the muscle spasm which is leading to the damage.

[Dammy]

Yes there's a paper in the European Spine Journal published (I think) in April by a Danish group about this. The crucial thing is apparently that the effected bone/vertebrae are swollen inside and this inflammation eventually seems to respond to prolonged antibiotic treatment. My physio did a test with a little hammer on the area I have had operated on and which still gives me a lot of sciatic pain; I nearly fell off the couch when he tapped them and said it was a "positive" test, and suggested I talk to my GP to see if I could get put back into the system for another MRI test. I see the GP next week.

[manma]

If antibiotics did solve the problem of back pain, surely Doctors would have realised this years ago, as the first thing they try to tell you is you've got an infection and give you antibiotics, when they don't work they send you for x-rays, maybe they should stop worrying about their budgets and send people with back pain for scans rather than trying this or that first. find the cause and treat it early