back pain

House Watch: What Causes Back Pain?

Like last week’s episode, this week’s House M.D. stuck to the formula that has worked so well for the series these past 6.5 seasons: medical mystery, a flurry of possible diagnoses — more than any episode this season, I …

Job a pain in the neck? Maybe you need an ergonomic intervention

Just buying ergonomic desks and chairs isn’t enough to quell pain caused by poor posture at work reports a new study in this month’s Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. Such equipment is useless, say the authors, unless a professional ergonomist sets it up and adjusts it. Researchers came to this conclusion by taking a …

What Causes Back Pain?

A common back-pain surgery works no better than a faked surgical procedure, according to a study released today in the New England Journal of Medicine. But the setback for the treatment may raise new questions about what really …