November 29, 2017

expert reaction to ‘minimally invasive treatment provides relief from back pain’ a presentation at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America

Researchers presenting results at the Radiological Society of North America claim that minimally invasive treatment provides relief from back pain.

Prof. Stuart Derbyshire, Associate Professor of Psychology at National University of Singapore, said:

“That reminds me of one of the earliest studies I heard about that motivated me to get involved in pain research. It was conducted at the Eastman Dental Hospital in London. The hypothesis was that ultrasound would relieve post-operative dental pain, which it did, superbly. But then it was noticed that it didn’t seem to matter if the machine was plugged in or not…

“There was also an awesome placebo trial in Texas where they tested whether clearing cartilage from a knee really helped with knee pain. Patients in the placebo group were put under and then the surgical team did everything as normal, moving instruments, checking vitals, and so on. Except they never opened the knee and no cartilage was scraped. When the patients were assessed, the placebo group had excellent pain relief, at least as good as the group actually receiving the surgery.

“At this stage it sounds like a placebo, and it’s something we have seen often. It’s an amazing effect, as it goes, but it probably isn’t what it seems on the surface – i.e. zapping the spine with radio frequency is not *directly* altering ‘pain mechanisms’ in the spine. If they’ve really made this successful a treatment then I can’t wait to see the published peer-reviewed paper.”

Declared interests

None received.