While A New England Journal of Medicine article calls low back pain “one of the most common causes of morbidity and absenteeism in the US,” an article in Spine points out that “the proportion of physician visits for back pain has changed little in the past decade.” Perhaps this is because commonly prescribed treatments such as bed rest are often not effective.
A study published in the British Journal of Rheumatology, however, proved the efficacy of at least one type of treatment for chronic low back pain: spa therapy, which in this case consisted of “physiotherapy with hydrotherapy administered in various forms using mineral spring waters at the spa resort.” Researchers concluded that this sort of therapy has a positive effect on chronic low back pain. It is so widely accepted as an effective treatment, in fact, that it is on the reimbursement list of the Social Security National Health Insurance in France.