ArticleGlobal spine journal2022
The Efficacy of Cannabis in Reducing Back Pain: A Systematic Review.
Article in Global spine journal, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 18 citations in OpenAlex.
- Full-spectrum extract from Cannabis sativa DKJ127 for chronic low back pain: a phase 3 randomized placebo-controlled trial.Nature medicine · 2025Trial
- Article
- Reverse spin bias: preliminary observations of reporting bias in medical systematic reviews.Research integrity and peer review · 2026Article
- Review
- Machine-learning of medical cannabis chemical profiles reveals analgesia beyond placebo expectations.Communications medicine · 2025Article
- Review
- Evidence synthesis of medical cannabis research: current challenges and opportunities.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2025Review
- Review
- The Effect of Marijuana on Postoperative Spine Patients' Emergency Department Visits, Readmission Rates, and Opioid Consumption.Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Global research & reviews · 2024Article
- What is the hype on #MedicinalCannabis in the United States? A content analysis of medicinal cannabis tweets.Drug and alcohol review · 2024Article
- The Pharmacology of Cannabinoids in Chronic Pain.Medical cannabis and cannabinoidsReview
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo critically analyze the evidence and efficacy of cannabis to treat surgical and nonsurgical back pain via a Systematic Review.
methodsWe conducted a systematic review to investigate the efficacy of cannabis to treat non-surgical and surgical back pain. A literature search was performed with MEDLINE and Embase databases. Only RCTs and prospective cohort studies with concurrent control were included in this study. Risk of bias and quality grading was assessed for each included study.
resultsDatabase searches returned 1738 non-duplicated results. An initial screening excluded 1716 results. Twenty-two full text articles were assessed for eligibility. Four articles ultimately met pre-determined eligibility and were included in the study. Two studies addressed post-SCI pain while other two studies addressed low back pain. No studies specifically examined the use of cannabis for surgical back pain. The type of cannabis varied between study and included THC, dronabinol, and Nabilone. A total of 110 patients were included in the four studies reviewed. In each study, there was a quantifiable advantage of cannabis therapy for alleviating back pain. There were no serious adverse effects reported.
conclusionsIn all articles, cannabis was shown to be effective to treat back pain with an acceptable side effect profile. However, long-term follow up is lacking. As medicinal cannabis is being used more commonly for analgesic effect and patients are "self-prescribing" cannabis for back pain, additional studies are needed for healthcare providers to confidently recommend cannabis therapy for back pain. STUDY
designSystematic review.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.