Back pain and antibiotics: latest research finds link between back pain and bacteria
In a recent study conducted by a team of Danish and British scientists, researchers discovered a significant link between the same bacterium responsible for teenage acne and debilitating back pain.
The study, published in the European Spinal Journal, found that in nearly half of the patients, the cause of chronic back pain may have been linked to the bacterium. In the study, most patients who carried the bacteria experienced a cure or improvement in their back pain after a three-month course of antibiotics.
In a second study on 162 patients, researchers found that when such cases were given the antibiotic combination Amoxicillin and clavulanate, 80 per cent were cured or saw a significant reduction in pain levels.
Peter Hamlyn, a consultant neurologist and spinal surgeon at University College London Hospital, said the discoveries were so significant that in future, antibiotics might instead help half of all patients who would otherwise endure spinal surgery.
Researchers believe that when a disc becomes herniated, bacteria can enter and cause an infection. Where similar studies support this theory, tissues removed from damaged discs show that more than half were infected with the bacteria that commonly cause acne. This bacterium was not discovered in patients who underwent surgery for different back problems.
“When bacteria gets into the bloodstream, it can travel to the site of a damaged disc; the body then reacts to the infection, resulting in lower back pain,” said Dr Hanne Albert, who has been leading the larger clinical trial at the Back Research Centre in Denmark.
While the initial results are promising, more studies need to be carried out before reaching for the antibiotics prescription, according to John O’Dowd, President of the British Society for Back Pain Research. “I wouldn’t want to see a great rush to market this as the best response to chronic lower back pain until [more research] has been done,” he said.
Similarly, Professor of Microbiology at the University of Birmingham, Laura Piddock, said antibiotics should only be prescribed to treat chronic back pain if a bacteria or infection had been identified, warning against an unnecessary exposure to drugs that may result in the likelihood of resistance or future infection.
