Working as both a clinician and as a professor during the global pandemic, I had first-hand insight into the lack of understanding and amount of misinformation amongst my patients and students, regarding general issues of health and well-being. What the World Health Organization terms the “infodemic” explains this overabundance of information (some accurate and some not) that is available to us today and how it can lead to uncertainty in our patients (and my students!) and potentially to worsening physical and mental well-being. I am particularly concerned with the lack of understanding and misinformation regarding simple concepts such as the importance of lifestyle factors (eg. exercise and diet) on overall health and how to best treat common conditions, such as chronic low back pain.
Recently I was honoured to be part of a group commissioned by the WHO to perform research to help them create clinical practice guidelines for chronic low back pain. Specifically, my research team looked into the benefits/harm of different interventions for chronic low back pain. We screend thousands of articles and published our results on what types of treatment had the best evidence. The WHO then used our articles to make their own guideline that is now available to the public. I have attached the link to my team's articles and also the WHO guideline at the bottom of this post but I'll review some of the key findings below
WHO recommendations for management of chronic low back pain include:
Proper education and/or advice interventions from your health care provider
Structured exercise program
Acupuncture
Chiropractic care
Massage
For a more detailed explanation feel free to look through the links below or reach out to Dr. Myrtos directly with any questions you may have by clicking "Got a Question?".
Link to WHO Guideline: https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/374531/9789240085558-eng.pdf
Research published by Dr. Myrtos for the WHO:
Systematic Review to Inform a World Health Organization (WHO) Clinical Practice Guideline: Benefits and Harms of Structured and Standardized Education or Advice for Chronic Primary low back pain in Adults. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37991651/
Systematic Review to Inform a World Health Organization (WHO) Clinical Practice Guideline: Benefits and Harms of Needling Therapies for Chronic Primary Low Back Pain in Adults. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37991648/
Systematic Review to Inform a World Health Organization (WHO) Clinical Practice Guideline: Benefits and Harms of Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) for Chronic Primary Low Back Pain in Adults. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37991646/