New NIH BACPAC Funding Opportunities for Research on Low-Back Pain | NCCIH

New NIH BACPAC Funding Opportunities for Research on Low-Back Pain | NCCIH

New NIH BACPAC Funding Opportunities for Research on Low-Back Pain December 18, 2018 Helene Langevin, M.D. I’m writing today to encourage researchers with an interest in complementary and integrative therapies for low-back pain to apply for the new funding opportunities offered by the National Institutes of Health Back Pain Research Consortium (NIH BACPAC), part of theNIH HEAL (Helping to End Addiction Long-termSM) Initiative. Chronic low-back pain is one of the most common forms of chronic pain, and it’s a very difficult condition to manage. No therapy works consistently for all patients. Unfortunately, some people with chronic low-back pain end up taking opioids for lack of a better alternative, despite the lack of research supporting their use for chronic pain. Enhancing the treatment of chronic low-back pain fits in perfectly with the NIH HEAL Initiative’s goal of finding new, safer treatment options for pain to improve patients’ quality of life and reduce the number of people exposed to opioid risks. Rigorous studies are needed to better understand the underlying mechanisms of low-back pain and to develop more effective ways to treat it, including combination therapies and individualized approaches. That’s where NIH BACPAC comes in. NIH BACPAC will focus on translational and clinical research for discovery of low-back pain mechanisms and for identification and testing of new interventions targeted to the individual patient.

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