Researchers Design Surgery-Free Device to Cure Back Pain
The chip will be implanted under the skin behind your neck.
Researchers Design Surgery-Free Device to Cure Back Pain
Those suffering from severe back pain may soon be able to have pain-killing devices implanted without surgery, as researchers from the University of Cambridge have developed a tiny device that can be inserted with a needle.
The device is like a very thin electronic sheet that's just 0.06 millimeters thick, or about as thick as a human hair. This allows it to be rolled up into a cylinder and inserted into the body using a needle. Once in place, it can be inflated with water and air so that it unrolls and covers a section of the spinal cord up to 14 millimeters wide.
The device is then used to send electrical currents into the spinal cord to disrupt pain signals.
Similar devices are already used to help people with back pain, as well as leg and chest pain, that can't be treated with medication. However, these devices are either so big that they require surgery, or so small that they're not very effective.
Senior author Dr. Damiano Barone said that the new device could be made bigger to cover a larger area of the spine, and it may even be able to help treat conditions such as Parkinson's disease or paralysis after a spinal cord injury or stroke.
"Our goal was to make something that's the best of both worlds — a device that's clinically effective but that doesn't require complex and risky surgery," said the study's other senior author, Dr. Christopher Proctor.
However, the device has only been tested in the lab and on a human cadaver. The researchers hope to begin testing it on patients within the next two to three years.
According to a 2020 study that looked at data from 1990 to 2017, lower back pain is the leading cause of disability around the world. In 2017, it was estimated that almost 580 million people were living with severe back pain at any one point in time.
People with back pain miss fewer workdays when they receive recommended treatments: Study
According to a new study by scientists at the University of Utah Health and MDGuidelines, people with lower back pain injury miss 11 more days of work in a year when they only receive treatments for lower back pain that are not recommended by medical guidelines compared to people treated according to guidelines.
- The findings are published in the journal Public Library of Science (PLOS) ONE.
- “The closer people’s care follows evidence-based guidelines, the faster their back pain resolves, by quite a bit,” says the study’s senior author Kurt Hegmann, M.D., director of the University of Utah Rocky Mountain Center for Occupational and Environmental Health.
- That may be so, but 65 per cent of the people included in the study received at least some non-recommended treatments for lower back pain. Among the nearly 60,000 people whose medical claims were analyzed:
- 14 per cent received non-recommended treatments only,
- 51 per cent received a mix of non-recommended and recommended treatments,
- 14 per cent received recommended treatments only,
- and 21 per cent did not receive any medical intervention.
People who received recommended treatments combined with non-recommended treatments saw an intermediate benefit, missing a median of eight workdays within the year as compared to those who exclusively received recommended treatments.
The most common non-recommended treatments were prescriptions for opioids, which are discouraged because they reinforce debility instead of exercise and can be addictive, and X-rays, which can lead to inaccurate diagnoses. The most common recommended treatments were nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and muscle relaxants.
The data came from California workers’ compensation claims between 2009 to 2018 from employees who had uncomplicated, acute lower back pain or strain, the most prevalent injury in the workplace.
The researchers tracked whether treatments prescribed in clinic visits within the first week after injury were categorized as recommended or non-recommended in the peer-reviewed American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM) guidelines, with the assumption that similar treatment patterns would continue in any subsequent clinic visits. The scientists then calculated the number of lost workdays within the first year after injury.
While a large proportion of workers received non-recommended treatments, health care providers improved adherence to medical guidelines over time. In 2009, 10 per cent were treated according to guidelines, but that rose to 18 per cent by 2018. The treatment practice that changed most drastically was opioid prescriptions, which fell by 86 per cent over those nine years.
“The reduction in opioids prescription is particularly impressive,” Hegmann says. “In this case, the insurer is likely to not pay for opioids even if they are prescribed. It suggests what’s possible when the ‘carrot’ of good health care is missed and instead the ‘stick’ of compliance with a guideline is in place.”
Clinical practice guidelines are based on systematic reviews of scientific evidence and are designed to guide health care providers as they decide how to treat their patients’ health conditions. Typically, guidelines are updated every few years, which can make it difficult for health care providers to keep up. Doctors may not adhere to guidelines because they aren’t aware of them, don’t know how to implement the recommended treatments, prefer to continue practices they’ve used in the past, or for other reasons.
Regardless, the large reductions in opioid prescriptions for lower back pain suggest that added incentives, such as insurance refusing to pay for non-recommended treatments, increases adherence to guidelines. Hegmann and the study’s first author, Fraser Gaspar, PhD, say that implementing decision support tools and other ways to promote adherence to guidelines will be better for patients.
“Being out of work impacts many facets of your life,” says Gaspar, who carried out the research when he was a scientist at MDGuidelines. “In addition to the physical disability that’s causing the person to miss work, the worker is making less money, while they often incur additional costs and experience mental strain. Getting people back to their normal lives is really important, and our research shows that following guidelines make that happen faster.”
High cholesterol: Back pain or pain in the left side of chest could indicate high levels
HIGH cholesterol can be a precursor for a person having a heart attack hence the importance of spotting the early warning signs. Pain in either of these body regions could be an indicator not to ignore.
High cholesterol: Nutritionist reveals top prevention tips
High cholesterol is when a person has too much of a fatty substance in their blood. Cholesterol can build up in the arteries, which, over time, can cause a blockage. Depending on where this happens, it may trigger a heart attack or stroke. Experiencing pain in either of these body regions could indicate your levels are becoming dangerously high.
Back pain
A study published in the US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health analysed the association between serum lipids and low back pain.
The study included adults between 40 and 64 years old who underwent an annual health check-up.
A total of 258,367 eligible participants were analysed to investigate associations of lower back pain with low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and LDL-C/HDL-C ratio.
The study found that low HDL-C and high LDL-C/HDL-C ratio were significantly associated with lower back pain indicating the pain felt in the back could indicate high cholesterol levels.
High cholesterol: Pain in either of these two regions could be major signs
Pain in the left side of the chest
Left-sided chest pain can be due to a heart attack or other life-threatening condition for which every minute matters. Call your local emergency services if you or someone near you has unexplained left-sided or centre chest pain along with:
Feeling of pressure or tightening of the chest
Shooting pain in the arms, neck, jaw, back, or abdomen
Breathing difficulties
Weakness, light-headedness, or dizziness
Nausea or vomiting
Ways to reduce chest pain include:
- Quitting smoking
- Eating a healthy diet
- Losing weight if you’re overweight or obese
- Becoming physically active
- Reducing stress
- Limiting alcohol consumption
- Keeping your blood sugar in check if it is elevated
- Controlling your blood pressure if it is high
High cholesterol: Back pain could indicate levels are too high (Image: Getty Images)
Good cholesterol vs bad cholesterol
Cholesterol is a type of fat found in all of your body’s cells. Your body uses cholesterol for various important jobs, such as manufacturing hormones and vitamin D and help you digest foods.
Your body makes all the cholesterol it needs. You also get cholesterol from animal foods such as eggs, meat, and dairy products.
There are several kinds of cholesterol. The “bad” types include low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and very-low-density lipoprotein (VLDL), which carries triglycerides.
These are referred to as “bad” because they lead to the build-up of plaque in your arteries.
Another type of cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) is considered “good” because it helps remove cholesterol from your body.
The American Heart Association recommends having your cholesterol levels checked every four to six years if you are a healthy adult over the age of 20.
If you have a family history of high cholesterol, it’s recommended to have it checked more often.
A person may also need more frequent cholesterol checks if they have a family history of heart attacks or strokes.
As high cholesterol does not cause any major symptoms in the early stages, therefore it’s integral for one to make good lifestyle choices by eating a healthy diet, maintaining an exercise routine and regularly monitoring cholesterol levels.