An Australian clinical trial has found that antibiotics don’t improve back pain outcomes in people with herniated discs, with researches saying the medicines shouldn’t be used to treat chronic lower back pain.
Published in JAMA Network Open, the study investigated whether a 3-month course of antibiotics could reduce pain in patients with herniated discs, following growing interest in the theory that bacteria within the spinal discs may contribute to chronic pain.
Researchers randomly assigned participants to receive either a combination of the antibiotics, amoxicillin and clavulanate, or a placebo for 90 days.
The results showed no significant difference in pain reduction between the antibiotic and placebo groups at either the 3-month or 12-month follow-up periods.
“This randomised clinical trial did not demonstrate efficacy of antibiotic therapy for chronic low back pain and disc herniation, including a subgroup with Modic changes,” say the researchers.
“These findings suggest that antibiotics should not be used in the management of chronic low back pain and provide important data to prevent their inappropriate and harmful use.”
