European Guidelines for the Management of Chronic Non-specific Low Back Pain

In 2004, European Guidelines for the Management of Chronic Non-specific Low Back Pain (CLBP) were released. They recommend spinal manipulation as an effective conservative treatment. They further state that:

Surgery for non-specific CLBP cannot be recommended unless 2 years of all other recommended conservative treatments — including multidisciplinary approaches with combined programs of cognitive intervention and exercises — have failed. Read the full article.

Additionally, these list a series of NOT RECOMMENDED treatment options which, nowadays, seem to be a fairly common medical advise

– Bed rest
– Acupuncture
– Epidural corticosteroids
– Intradiscal injections
– Intra-articular (facet) steroid injections
– Local facet nerve blocks
– Trigger point injections
– Prolotherapy
– Botulinum toxin
– Radiofrequency facet denervation
– Intradiscal radiofrequency lesioning
– Intradiscal electrothermal therapy
– Radiofrequency lesioning of the dorsal root ganglion
– Spinal cord stimulation