Parkinson's Disease Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Parkinson's Disease, including details on symptoms, treatment, genetics, medication.

Radicular and nonradicular back pain in Parkinson's disease: a controlled study.

Broetz D, Eichner M, Gasser T, Weller M, Steinbach JP

Center for Therapy, Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, School of Medicine, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany. doris.broetz@med.uni-tuebingen.de

Postural abnormalities and increased muscle tone in Parkinson's disease (PD) may cause back pain. In this controlled study, we analyzed features of back pain in PD patients. The prevalence of back pain was 74% in PD patients (n = 101) when compared with 27% in control patients (n = 132; P < 0.0001, fisher's exact test), but did not correlate with disease severity or duration. The mean back pain intensity (visual analog scale of 0-10) was 4.3 for PD patients, and 1.3 for controls. Both radicular and nonradicular types of back pain were more frequent, and back pain caused more impairment in PD patients. However, it is noteworthy that the PD patients in our study did not receive more pain medication than control patients. This suggests that back pain in PD patients is often neglected and insufficiently treated. Our results argue for the routine evaluation of back pain in every patient suffering from PD.

Published 1 May 2007 in Mov Disord, 22(6): 853-6.
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