Current pain and headache reports
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Low back pain is a common complaint in the primary care setting. Although most patients with acute low back pain will improve with conservative treatment, back pain often recurs, and a subset of patients will progress to chronic and sometimes disabling symptoms. ⋯ The benefit of medications, including nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, analgesics, and possibly antidepressants or muscle relaxants, must be weighed against potential adverse effects. There is insufficient evidence regarding the effectiveness of many of the available therapies for chronic low back pain, and well-designed, randomized controlled trials are needed to clarify the role of these treatments.
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Curr Pain Headache Rep · Dec 2006
ReviewTension-type headache: why does this condition have to fight for its recognition?
Tension-type headache is the most prevalent type of primary headache but is frequently forgotten by the patient and doctor. This article summarizes the present knowledge about tension-type headache and discusses some of the problematic aspects. Most patients in specialized headache clinics suffer from several different primary and secondary headaches at the same time and deserve a careful characterization before a rational therapy can be initiated. In particular, it is of utmost importance to increase focus on clinical and basic research in order to develop effective treatment strategies for the most neglected and most costly type of headache.