Back pain and herbs

The failure of traditional medicine to treat back pain has many consumers now seeking alternative care therapy. Among the hundreds of therapies for back pain are herbs. There are many herbs, which are claimed to be effective for back pain, but only a few have ever been scientifically tested. Oral and topical application of herbs is more than a thousand years old and this type of remedy for back pain is still widely practiced in many parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa.

The two popular herbs frequently claimed to have pain relieving properties include Devil’s claw and White Willow bark. Several years ago, these two herbs were assessed in hundreds of patients and the results were compared at the same time with placebo (sugar pill) and Vioxx (now withdrawn from the market)

The results revealed that both Willow bark (120 or 240 mg) and Devil’s claw (50 or 100 mg) were able to reduce back pain more effectively than the sugar pill. The pain relief was comparable to the low dose Vioxx pill. The side effects of these herbs were minimal and chiefly consisted of nausea, bloating and gastric upset.

There were a few limitations in the trials that the consumer should know. The study only took place for 6 weeks and thus long-term effectiveness of these herbs remains unknown. Secondly, and most important, many of the scientists/judges who were involved in the study were also paid by the herb vendors and so a conflict of interest was present. No one knows if these judges wrote a more optimistic report because they were paid. However, we do know from many previous studies that when judges or scientists are paid by the pharmaceutical industry, the results always favor the drug (no one it appears gives a crap about the patient).

For the moment, these short-term results on the two herbs are good but there is no data on whether they work in the long term or are safe. Because pharmaceutical drugs are always expensive, perhaps one may try these herbs for a short term and see what happens. Herbs are generally cheaper than conventional drugs but on the other hand, the quality and content of these herbs varies tremendously from store to store and even with the same brand. Moreover, do not forget, many of these herbs are cheaply manufactured and packaged in China and India. Fake and counterfeit products are ample in the health supplement industry. So always- buyer beware.