UK experts explore back pain and medical cannabis

Leading UK back pain specialists will take part in an expert webinar exploring the role of cannabis medicines in providing relief.

One in three people in the UK will experience the agony of back pain at some point in their life. 

The Work Foundation Report estimates that 12.5 percent of all days lost at work are due to back  pain. It can be an utterly miserable condition where traditional medical approaches such as  opioids, pain killers, steroid injections and surgery often fail to bring satisfactory relief. At times, they can make a patient’s situation worse.  

Lockdown has seen a surge in chronic back pain due to hours spent crouched over laptops in  unsuitable workspaces compounded by a reduction in normal daily movement. 

Cannabis medicines are gaining increasing interest as an effective and safe treatment for this pain, when traditional methods have failed to help.  

The National Back Pain Association (more commonly known as BackCare or BackPain UK) has  been educating the public on ways to alleviate and help prevent back pain for over 50 years. 

In addition to assisting healthcare professionals, BackCare provides practical and emotional  support to people living with back pain through education, information and individual advice. 

Help is at hand wherever there is back pain, whether through injury, wear and tear, musculoskeletal disorders such as scoliosis, axial spa, or spina bifida or as a consequence of  another underlying health condition including multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease or  cancer.  

BackCare and Integro Medical Clinics who specialise in prescribing cannabis medicines, have joined forces to produce an informative and potentially life-changing webinar event that will be of  interest to anyone suffering the misery of back pain and to health care providers alike.  

This stand-alone webinar event, taking place on Tuesday 25 May, will be focusing on the practical application of biomedical knowledge behind cannabis medicines and back pain and is aimed at healthcare providers and and anyone suffering from back pain whether it is a primary condition or a secondary symptom of a more  complex pain condition such as MS, fibromyalgia or osteoarthritis. 

The discussion will explore the potential benefits of the addition of cannabis medicines into a chronic pain management regime for this diverse patient group

The healthcare professionals taking part in the event have years of experience between them in complex pain management and expertise in the treatment of back  pain for a variety of conditions.  

The panel includes Dr Basil Almahdi, pain specialist at Integro Medical Clinics and the London Spinal Clinic, Dr Brian Hammond PhD, a chiropractor, osteopath and CEO of BackCare Charity and Dr Anthony Ordman, hon. clinical director of Integro Medical Clinics, a private pain clinic that prescribes cannabis medicines and one of the UK’s most experienced specialists in the treatment of pain. 

For his contributions to pain medicine Dr Ordman was awarded Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians in 2005, and he is former president of the Pain Medicine Section of the Royal Society of Medicine.  

Audience members will have the opportunity to present questions to the panel at the  end of the session.  

The event will take place on Tuesday 25 May from 7pm-8.30pm.

Register here