IntroductionAmong Western societies 84% of adults suffer from low back pain at some time in their lives (1). Low back pain is the most frequent reason for disability in the population below the age of 45 (2). The treatment costs for low back pain are a significant part of medical costs and at about 34 billion dollars; by adding the economic loss due to workforce loss, this number increases to 100 billion dollars in the United States (3,4). Lumbar disc herniation with associated radiculopathy (LDHR) ranks first among the diseases that cause low back pain. For this reason, an inexpensive, noninvasive, and efficient treatment method is required in order to reduce and delay surgical interventions of LDHR patients and minimize the workforce loss during the period until surgical intervention.Lumbar disc herniation is the displacement of the nucleus pulposus by the breaching of the annulus fibrosus (5). With increasing age disc degeneration and disc height loss occur by the loss of proteoglycan and the effects of proinflammatory cytokines (6). As a result of these, clinical signs such as pressure on nerve roots and the spine occur. The purpose of treatment is reducing the pain and increasing the functional activity by removing the pressure on the nerve roots by either surgical or conservative methods.The decision between surgical and nonsurgical management of LDHR can be challenging for both the patient and the treating physician. Generally surgical intervention is suggested to patients with acute and progressive neurological deficit and those who are nonresponsive to conservative treatments (7). In light of the costs of surgical treatments and the scale of possible complications, noninvasive treatment becomes the best option. Since the intervertebral discs are the largest avascular structures of the body, nourishment is supplied by diffusion. Because of this avascularity, there is no possibility for spontaneous recovery (8).Background/aim: The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy of the Artcure Diffusional Patch, which contains a mixture of 6 herbal oils (oleum thymi, oleum limonis, oleum nigra, oleum rosmarini, oleum chamomilla, oleum lauriexpressum) and has a hypoosmolar lipid structure, in the conservative treatment of lumbar disc herniation patients and to show the advantages and/or possibility of using this as an alternative method to surgery.
Materials and methods:Of the 120 patients enrolled, 79 clinically diagnosed patients were included in the study. Clinical evaluations were performed on patients who had findings of protrusion or extrusion in their magnetic resonance results. The treatment group was treated with the Artcure Diffusional Patch while the control group received a placebo transdermal diffusional patch. The functional state of patients was measured using the Oswestry Disability Index and pain intensity was measured with a visual analog scale as primary outcomes. Secondary outcomes of the study were Lasegue's sign, the femoral stretching test, and paravertebral muscle spasm.
Results:The trea...