Category: NICE

Burning nerves with needles in back pain – stop the burning, just use the needles!

This blog was first published on 27th July 2017 on https://blogs.bmj.com/aim/ I subsequently attended the Spanish Pain Society conference (#SEDPalma2018) and there was a whole session devoted to this paper and why it did not apply to the way these specialists used the technique :-/. This piece has also been stimulated by a publication in JAMA, … Continue reading Burning nerves with needles in back pain – stop the burning, just use the needles! →

Too NICE – there appears to be a glaring orthodox bias in NG59

This blog was first published on 30th Novenber 2016 on https://blogs.bmj.com/aim/ When the draft clinical guideline for low back pain & sciatica was published in February 2016, it was with some resignation that I noted the 2009 recommendation in CG88 for acupuncture in low back pain (from 6 weeks to 1 year)[1] had been dropped. It … Continue reading Too NICE – there appears to be a glaring orthodox bias in NG59 →

Musings on heterogeneity in quantitative outcomes of acupuncture trials in LBP

This blog was first published on 4th April 2016 on https://blogs.bmj.com/aim/ Further commentary: Low back pain and sciatica: management of non-specific low back pain and sciatica Draft clinical guideline February 2016 This commentary follows a previous blog post. Late last Friday night I got around to dropping the pain VAS outcome figures from the trials of acupuncture … Continue reading Musings on heterogeneity in quantitative outcomes of acupuncture trials in LBP →

Exercise not acupuncture recommended by NICE for low back pain

This blog was first published on 31st March 2016 on BMJ Blogs (link no longer available). Commentary: Low back pain and sciatica: management of non-specific low back pain and sciatica – draft clinical guideline February 2016 (link no longer available). NICE clinical guidelines are very large pieces of work. This draft runs to over 1000 pages with … Continue reading Exercise not acupuncture recommended by NICE for low back pain →