Relief for Back Pain

Reported February 2010

SAN DIEGO (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- It's one of the most common medical problems -- eight out of ten people experience back pain at some point in their lives. Despite medical advances, most cases have no known cause. Scientists are looking at a muscle buried deep in the back that may provide an answer for those suffering pain with no diagnosis.

It first hit Pam Pohlar 10 years ago.

"The more I was on my feet, the more I noticed it was hurting more and more," Pohlar recalled to Ivanhoe. "It got to the point where I was almost immobile."

She waited two years for a diagnosis and spent eight years with no relief, becoming one of the 26 million Americans suffering back pain.

"No one is stepping back and taking a look at really what are the true causes and true problems when it comes to back pain," Todd Sinett, D.C., a chiropractor in New York City and author of The Truth About Back Pain, said.

One scientist is on the hunt for answers, buried deep in the muscles of the lower back.

"It turns out that as we were looking around, this one muscle called the multifidus, which kind of has a weird anatomical presentation, hadn't been studied at all," Rick Lieber, a professor of orthopedic surgery and bioengineering at the University of California, San Diego, explained.

The arrangement of fibers in the mulitifidus muscle makes it the strongest in the entire back.

"There are probably a bunch of people out there who have forgotten how to use it, and the nervous system just relies on other muscles that aren't really designed to do it but can, and we think that might be the basis for a lot of back pain," Lieber said.

Unlike most other muscles in the back, orthopedic surgeons found that the multifidus actually becomes stronger when lengthened, as a person leans forward.

"The more the spine flexes, the stronger it gets, the better it's able to pull you back into an erect posture," Lieber explained. "That's very unique, we don't know any other muscle in the body that's like that."

Until more is understood, it's another reason to keep that lower back in shape. As for Pohlar, she had surgery and lost 45 pounds.

"I'm too young to be confined to home," she said.

She's doing her part to stay pain-free.

Researchers say the discoveries about the multifidus muscle could change the way surgeons operate on the back, helping them avoid damage to the muscle since its role is more important than once thought.

Click here to Go Inside This Science or contact:

Richard L. Lieber, PhD
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery
University of California and V.A. Medical Centers, San Diego
(858) 822-1344 (Assistant Eileen)
rlieber@ucsd.edu

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