A study published in JAMA Network Open found that “antibiotic treatment is not an effective treatment for lower back pain with disc herniation.” CIDRAP has the news.

When “one or more of the rubbery pads of cartilage between vertebrae are displaced, it compresses the spinal nerves, causing pain. This diagnosis can coincide with low-grade bacterial infections in the discs, which is why antibiotics are sometimes prescribed when first-line treatments fail.” The efficacy of antibiotics in treating this pain, however, is “unclear and controversial.”

This double-blind clinical trial involved half of participants receiving an antibiotic called amoxicillin-clavulanate for 90 days while the other half received a placebo. The antibiotic group “did not report less pain than the placebo group, independent of baseline pain.”

These findings also have “implications for the growing threat of antibiotic resistance,” since misuse and overuse of these drugs can drive rates of resistance up. Treating lower back pain wastes time and financial resources and also “contributes to a growing existential threat that endangers global health.”