Back pain is second only to cancer as a cause of long term disability. This health problem is damaging to individuals and costly to society. And we don’t have much in our arsenal that is effective at treating it. This week, we discuss the difference between acute and chronic back pain with regard to treatment and outcomes. We also discuss the role of surgery, medications, alternative therapies, and some interesting new research on what helps resolve chronic back pain. Resources: Research on efficacy of epidural steroid injections for back pain Trends in spinal fusion surgery American College of Physicians Guidelines for the Treatment of Chronic Low Back Pain Be sure and subscribe in iTunes or Stitcher if you haven’t already.  And you know we’d appreciate it so much if you would tell your friends about 2 Docs Talk! Listen on iTunes Listen on Stitcher Now Available on Google Play Music!

Episode 104: What to do About Chronic Back Pain (Rebroadcast)

Join cohosts Kendall Britt, MD and Amy Rogers, MD for a 15 minute check-up on current issues in medicine and health policy. The doctors examine current medical concerns in light of the best available medical evidence and the policy issues of the day with a focus on their impact on the doctor patient relationship.

Medicine

Science & Medicine

Health & Fitness

There has been a lot of commentary in the news and in medical journals about the problem of maternal mortality - specifically how we are really crappy at tracking it, which makes it really difficult to know if interventions are working or making things worse. In a country with healthcare as advanced as it is in the U.S., this is just stupid. I mean, we could use fancier words, but the bottom line is stupid.   Today, 2 Docs Talk about maternal mortality, the problems with tracking it, and one place that's done a pretty good job of both tracking and improving the numbers.   Resources:   That Propublica article we kept referring to. Obstetrics and Gynecology article about trends and tracking  Identifying Maternal Deaths in Texas CMQCC Toolkits   WHO's Trends in Maternal Mortality

Episode 128: Tracking Maternal Mortality

Medicare can be confusing for a lot of folks. Part A, Part B, Part C, Part D – some are automatic, some require enrollment; some have premiums, some don't; some have eligibility requirements besides age, some don't. It can get confusing.   To try to take some of the mystery out of Medicare, today 2 Docs Talk about Medicare Part C, also known as Medicare Advantage Plans.  Take a listen and decide for yourself if these plans really offer any advantage.

Episode 127: Is There Really an Advantage to Medicare Part C?

Kratom doesn't sound like your typical herbal supplement, but it does come with all the issues common to the supplement industry. Namely, it hasn't withstood the test of clinical trials to demonstrate safety and efficacy.  And that causes problems.   Problems like not knowing how much of the ingredient is in the supplement, or how much of other ingredients for that matter. Or wht kind of side effects might be evident if it were subjected to randomized placebo-controlled trials.   But another problem is that it might actually offer a solution to a very big problem—opioid addiction But we don't know if it does because guess what? It hasn't been studied.   This week, 2 Docs Talk about Kratom and why the regulatory requirements (or absence thereof) on the supplement industry might be causing us to miss out on some real benefits.

Episode 125: Kratomic Explosion

With our apologies to and appreciation of Frances McDormand.  The opioid crisis is showing no signs of tapering off any time soon, so today, 2 Docs Talk about the cornerstone of opioid addiction treatment - medication assisted therapy or MAT.  We also (because we can't resist) talk about the irony of the very company who triggered the epidemic with their deceitful marketing practices now profiting from selling the treatment for that very problem.  Resources:  Previously, we disucssed the opioid epidemic in episode 12 - you can find it right here.

Episode 124: Treating Opioid Addiction

After a hiatus that lasted much longer than planned, we are back with our fall 2018 season of 2 Docs Talk, with look back on previous topic and an update on what's been going on since we first discussed them. We'll talk about the following episodes:   Hormone Supplementation and Menopause  Right to Try Legislation The Flu, the Flu Shot and the Future Cervical Cancer and the HPV Vaccine  Medicaid Expansion The Mumps   Other resources for this episode can be found here:  JAMA article on racial differences in vasomotor symptoms    Info on HPV vaccine expanded recommendations Mumps booster information

Episode 104: What to do About Chronic Back Pain (Rebroadcast)

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