Treating soldiers' back pain at U.S. combat support hospitals might help improve low return-to-duty rates for troops with back problems, a study indicates.

Maj. Ron L. White and Col. Steven P. Cohen, both anesthesiologists, say "down time" at the Ibn Sina Hospital in Baghdad could be used to treat some of the non-battle-related pain conditions common among deployed troops -- mainly lower back pain such as sciatica -- partly attributable to the heavy backpacks soldiers carry.

When these soldiers were treated at U.S. and European pain clinics fewer than 2 percent returned to duty, but 95 percent resumed active duty when treated at the combat medical facility.The study involved 113 U.S. and coalition soldiers -- two-thirds with sciatica -- treated for over a six-month period.

The soldiers treated were a carefully selected group who were highly motivated to return to their units, Cohen said.

Epidural steroid injections for sciatica were the most common treatment given and local anesthetic "trigger point" injections were used for muscle pain. Other treatments included physical therapy, anti-inflammatory drugs and drugs to treat nerve pain.

The study was published in the December issue of the journal Anesthesiology. // Copyright 2007 by United Press International


Publication date: 27 November 2007   

Source:

Archive