Research Shows Willow Bark Effective for Treating Lower Back Pain

Despite the fact that Willow Bark has long been used as a traditional remedy, there hasn't been much research done on willow bark as a pain reliever, and suggested doses by various sources often vary by a substantial margin. To investigate effective dosages, a group of German researchers have performed a 4 week clinical trial, which was designed to compare how safe and effective different dosage amounts of willow bark extract were for treating lower back pain.

The results of the study concluded that both high and low dosages of willow bark provided substantially more relief from pain than the placebo, but the higher dosage (240 mg/day) was markedly more effective than both low dosage and the placebo.

The study, which was placebo-controlled, was composed of 210 participants who suffered from chronic lower back pain who were, at the time, having exacerbations of their back pain (a rating of 5 or more out of 10 on a visual pain-approximation scale). The patients were randomly grouped to receive a low dosage of willow bark (120 mg/day), a high dosage (240 mg/day), or a simple placebo. Participants were allowed to take an additional pain reliever (a maximum of 400 mg a day of tramadol) if needed.

91 percent of the participants finished the trial. The primary outcome measured was pain relief, which was defined as the ratio of participants who reported an absence of pain for at least five days during the final week of the study, without using tramadol. Secondary outcomes measured were the ratio of participants who had to use tramadol during the course of the study and the improvement of the participants' symptoms from their baseline.

The study found that almost 40 percent of the patients in the high dosage willow bark group were free from pain during the last week of the study, as compared to about 20 percent of the lower dosage group and only about 6 percent of the group who received a placebo. For participants who received a higher dosage, pain relief became evident after about one week, and a substantially larger number of participants in the placebo group needed to take tramadol at some point during every week of the study.

The rate of mild adverse reactions was low for all three of the groups, some of which could be attributed to patients taking tramadol. One participant in the lower dosage willow bark group had an allergic reaction (swollen eyes and itching) that the researchers think was related to the treatment.

Source: To Your Health.