The chronic pain clinic here is offering a new treatment for chronic low back pain from disc problems. It’s a heat treatment delivered right to the disc. They say it helps promote disc healing. I’m not one for trying something brand new. How long’s this been around?

Intradiscal electrothermal (IDET) therapy started gaining popularity after an article was published about it in the year 2000. Since then more than 40,000 people have been treated in the U.S. and Canada.

So although it’s no longer “brand new,” it’s still in its infancy stages. Most studies only have one or two years’ worth of data to report on results.

Perhaps more importantly for you is to ask how many times the operator or technician at your facility has done this procedure. It’s more likely you are trying something new in your area that has been around in other places much longer.