Condition
Low back pain
Pain in the lumbar spine, usually non-specific and self-limiting, but occasionally a sign of something serious.
See a clinician
Some causes of low back pain need medical care, not self-treatment. Seek help for any of these:
- Loss of bladder or bowel control, or numbness around the groin/saddle area
- Progressive leg weakness or numbness
- Fever, or a history of cancer, with new back pain
- Significant trauma, or minor trauma if you have osteoporosis
- Unexplained weight loss or pain that is worse at night
What may help
Remedies studied for low back pain, ranked by strength of evidence.
- B Comfrey (topical) herb
Topical comfrey root extract reduces acute back pain and improves mobility vs placebo, comparably to topical diclofenac.
- B Devil's claw herb
At 50–100 mg harpagoside/day, probably relieves low back pain short-term vs placebo (low-quality evidence).
- B White willow bark herb
Standardized to 120–240 mg salicin/day, probably relieves low back pain short-term; 240 mg performed comparably to rofecoxib in one trial.
Most low back pain improves within weeks with movement and time. A few herbal remedies have short-term evidence for symptom relief. The red flags above point to causes that need a clinician rather than self-treatment.