Clinical Question: Is bed repose ef...

Clinical Question: Is bed repose effective in the short-term treatment of patients with back pain and sciatica?

Setting: Various (meta-analysis)

close attention Design: Systematic review

Synopsis: In this update of a 1999 Cochrane Review of trials forward bed rest for short-term (12 weeks) relief of soft back pain or sciatica, authors searched multiple databases for published and unpublished randomized or quasi-randomized studies in any language. pair reviewers independently assessed the methodologic quality of each cogitation and extracted the data. They assessed the quality using four criteria: (1) concealment of allocation; (2) cointervention; (3) intention-to-treat analysis or losse to follow-up; and (4) issue assessment.

Since the 1999 review, the authors set only two new trials. Six trials consistently demonstrated that for patients with uncomplicated depressed back pain, bed rest was slightly worse than staying active for pain relief and go [i]or[/i] come back to functional status. For patients with sciatica, the data were les clear, unless bed rest had little or no weight on pain or return to function.

Bottom Line: When studied for three month bed caesura in patients with uncomplicated soft back pain causes more pain and deliberates return to function. Similarly, patients with sciatica experience, at best, no benefit with bed quietness (Level of Evidence: 1a)

consideration reference: Hagen KB, et al. The updated Cochrane review of bed quiet for low back pain and sciatica. Spine March 1 2005;30:542-6

Used with permission from Barry H Bed quietness bad for back pain, ineffective for sciatica. Accessed online April 27 2005 at: http://www.InfoPOEMs.com.

COPYRIGHT 2005 American Academy of Family Physicians

COPYRIGHT 2005 Gale Group