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Lumbar belts appear to be helpful for alleviating low back pain, possibly offering a reasonable alternative to pain medication. In an analysis published in JAMA Network Open of 168 adults with nonspecific low back pain lasting 1–6 months, researchers evaluated whether adding a nonrigid lumbar belt to usual care improved pain and function. Patients assigned to the belt were instructed to wear it 4–8 hours daily for 12 weeks. At 12 weeks, disability scores improved by 10.0 points in the belt group compared with 5.3 points with usual care. A clinically meaningful improvement in disability (at least 30%) occurred in 60.5% of belt users vs 40.5% of controls. Mean pain at rest and during activity also decreased more with the belt, with between-group differences of 8.7 and 10.0 points, respectively. Back pain medication use was lower among belt users (50.6% vs 67.6%), including nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs use (18.5% vs 36.5%). No serious device-related adverse events occurred.
High prevalence: An estimated 45.1 million people in the United States had low back pain in 2021. What’s tricky for urgent care is that back pain is a common complaint, but in rare cases, it may be a symptom of a more serious issue. Read about a case of acute coronary syndrome from the JUCM archive: Escalating Back Pain Leading to a Diagnosis of ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction (STEMI) in Urgent Care: A Case Report