Green Tea, A Natural Alternative For Treatment of Chronic Back Pain

Green tea may have a therapeutic and positive effect in ameliorated symptoms and treatment of chronic back pain, some scientists suggested.

Chronic back pain is a condition of back pain lasting more than 12 weeks.

It is also considered as musculoskeletal disorders(MSDs) of the spine caused by various factors, including bone fractures, muscle or ligament injury, arthritis, herniated discs. aging,..

The traditional medicine suggested acute back pain did not treat correctly during the time of onset may cause chronic back pain in the latter days.


According to NIH, "chronic back pain can range in intensity from a dull, constant ache to a sudden, sharp sensation that leaves the person incapacitated. Pain can begin abruptly as a result of an accident or by lifting something heavy, or it can develop over time due to age-related changes of the spine".

The exact causes of back pain are debatable. However, researchers suggested that chronic back pain may also be initiated by some psychological risk factors such as fatigue, sleep disturbance, decreased appetite, and mood changes.


Truly, patients with chronic back pain may experience symptoms of limit movements, reduced back flexibility, strength, and stamina. In a severe case, the pain can cause difficulty in carrying out important and enjoyable activities.

Green tea is a precious drink processes numbers of health benefit known to almost everyone in Asia and the Western world.

Application of biologically active polyphenol epigallocatechin 3-gallate (EGCG) demonstrated a significant effect in reduced back pain through stimulating anti-inflammatory and anti-catabolic activity in patients with intervertebral disc (IVD) disease due to age-related changes in the adult disc in the induction of back pain.

According to the study by the Institute for Biomechanics (D-HEST), ETH Zurich, ingestion of green tea EGCG on back pain patients, human IVD cells isolated from patients undergoing surgery due to degenerative disc disease (n = 34) and cultured in 2D or 3D indicated that the phytochemical inhibited levels of inflammatory response activated by IL-1β, a cytokine protein produced by macrophages, with function in contributed to the inflammatory pain and hypersensitivity in the site of infection, observed by the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), western blotting, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), immunofluorescence and transcription factor assay.

Furthermore, the application also displayed a strong effect in reduced expression of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinases in mediated inflammatory factors of IL-1β in responded to stress stimuli.

Also, according to the Institute for Biomechanics (D-HEST), in the investigation of the analgesic properties of EGCG, by the von Frey filament test in Sprague-Dawley rats (n = 60), green tea EGCG injection also significantly inhibited the expression of pro-inflammatory mediators as expressed in above and reduced matrix metalloproteinases which have been found to associate to pro-inflammatory cytokines, chemokines and other proteins in regulation of varied aspects of inflammation and immunity.

Moreover, in the radiculopathic pain component, researchers indicated that EGCG inhibits the inflammation in precipitated back pain through modulation of the activity of IRAK-1 in glucose metabolism and insulin sensitivity in skeletal muscle and p38, c-Jun N-terminal kinases (JNK) and nuclear factor NF-κB in responding to stress stimuli in mediated production of pain related pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-1β.

Some researchers postulated that back pain may also be induced by muscle degeneration and impairment of nerve injury, leading to increased levels of reactive oxygen species in induced tissue apoptosis.

In crushing of the sciatic nerve induced back pain in the tested animal, application of green tea EGCG improved motor function in the toe spread and foot positioning and gain in the percentage motor deficit.

More importantly, EGCG expressed a significant effect in the recovery of sensory innervation in neuropathic pain-like syndrome and improvement of muscle tissues from injured limb with severe histopathological alterations at the end of week 3 post-surgery in treated animals.

According to the RT-PCR assay, EGCG treatment also normalizing the Bax/Bcl-2 ratio. The abnormal ratio of the Bax/Bcl-2 ratio has been found to associate in the induction of nerve cell apoptosis as well as inhibited levels of p53 with function in regulated the cell death cycle at days 3 and 7 post-surgery.

These results demonstrated the important effects of green tea EGCG in enhanced functional recovery, protected muscle fibers from cellular death, and improved morphological recovery in skeletal muscle after nerve injuries.

Taken together, green tea and its bioactive component epigallocatechin 3-gallate (EGCG) may be considered as functional food in reduced back pain caused by physical damage of the spine and injured nerve cells. Intake of green tea supplement should be taken exceptional care as some cases of liver acute toxicity have been reported in medical literature.


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Author Biography
Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrition, All right reserved)
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published online, including worldwide health, ezine articles, article base, health blogs, self-growth, best before it's news, the karate GB daily, etc.,.
Named TOP 50 MEDICAL ESSAYS FOR ARTISTS & AUTHORS TO READ by Disilgold.com Named 50 of the best health Tweeters Canada - Huffington Post
Nominated for shorty award over last 4 years
Some articles have been used as references in medical research, such as international journal Pharma and Bioscience, ISSN 0975-6299.

Sources
(1) Epigallocatechin 3-gallate suppresses interleukin-1β-induced inflammatory responses in intervertebral disc cells in vitro and reduces radiculopathic pain in rats by Krupkova O1, Sekiguchi M, Klasen J, Hausmann O, Konno S, Ferguson SJ, Wuertz-Kozak K.(PubMed)
(2) (-)-Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) attenuates functional deficits and morphological alterations by diminishing apoptotic gene overexpression in skeletal muscles after sciatic nerve crush injury by Renno WM1, Al-Maghrebi M, Al-Banaw A.(PubMed)
(3) Caffeine and chronic low back pain by Currie SR1, Wilson KG, Gauthier ST.(PubMed)