Waiting for back pain loss

From the Daily Mail in the UK

Back pain? Prepare to wait six weeks or longer for treatment
By Jenny Hope
Last updated at 12:52 AM on 27th May 2009

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New guidelines state back-pain sufferers can expect to wait six weeks before receiving treatment

Back-pain sufferers will have to wait six weeks before treatment, according to the latest guidelines.

And they may have to wait longer in many areas due to limited services, it is claimed.

The guidance, from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice), has backed widespread use of 'alternative' therapies for the first time.

Once they are referred, back sufferers in England and Wales will be able to opt for a three-month course of acupuncture, spinal manipulation or exercise - and try an alternative treatment if the first fails to work.

Treatment can be provided by physiotherapists, chiropractors, osteopaths or other qualified specialists.

Experts say they will not add to the £1.6billion NHS care bill because ineffective therapies will be dropped.

Prof Martin Underwood, a GP who was chairman of the committee overseeing the guidance, said it was a 'sea change' in the way back pain was treated on the NHS.

But he warned it was 'not going to happen tomorrow' because the availability of treatments was patchy.

He added: 'In some areas, people will get quite good access to these facilities but in other areas they won't be available.'

Prof Underwood said many patients were already advised to wait six weeks before specialist help because most get better in that time.

Prof Peter Littlejohns, of Nice, backed the use of acupuncture, saying: 'How it works is not completely clear but I think the evidence still shows that on balance patients do better'.

But Prof Edzard Ernst, a specialist in complementary medicine, was cautious about other treatments.

He said: 'The panel included three pro-manipulation experts.

'As a result, they over-estimated the benefits and under-estimated the risks of chiropractic spinal manipulation, in my view.'

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