A drug increasingly being prescribed for treating sciatica has been revealed to be no better than placebo, in research recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The researchers also found that people taking the drug pregabalin reported nearly twice as many adverse effects as those receiving the placebo reported.

Since its first approval in 2004 pregabalin (sold as Lyrica) has become the most widely prescribed medicine for neuropathic pain globally, with worldwide sales of between $3-5 billion annually.

At any one time, around 12% of the world’s population has low back pain. It is estimated that around 5 to 10% of people with low back pain will eventually have sciatica.

Researchers from the Musculoskeletal Division at The George Institute undertook the study after being increasingly concerned about the rise in the use of pregabalin, limited data on its effectiveness and fears over the drug’s safety. One of the possible serious side effects is suicidal thoughts or actions. Pregabalin is used for a number of painful conditions that include neuropathic pain.

Unfortunately there are no drugs proven to work for people with sciatica and even epidural injections often only provide a small benefit in the short term.

Doctors of chiropractic medicine (DC's) regularly employ several different therapies to treat the symptoms of sciatica, and can usually help control that unbearable lower extremity pain with a combination of physiotherapy, spinal manipulation, massage and therapeutic exercise.

Presented as a service to the community by: Union County Chiropractic Clinic, 110 Skyline Drive, Maynardville, TN (865) 992-7000 www.unioncountychiropractic.com.