The Checkup: Antibiotics Could Cure Up to 40 Percent of Chronic Back Pain, Study Says

• Wow, guys, this is huge. Danish researchers say a bacterial infection inside slipped spinal discs may be to blame in up to 40 percent of chronic back-pain cases. And what’s more, all that’s needed to cure the pain for good is an antibiotic. The study used patients who suffered herniated discs and found that 80 percent of those who took antibiotics three times a day for 100 days felt better; nothing improved for those on the placebo. The bacteria in question is called Proprione acne, which “normally live in hair follicles, on the gums and inside cheeks and may enter the bloodstream after the teeth are brushed and travel into the damaged disc,” according to Bloomberg.com. The discovery has been dubbed Nobel Prize-worthy by some experts. So, yeah, this is huge.

• Okay, so we know that the plastic surgery du jour for women is arm lifts, thanks to one very jacked FLOTUS, but what about guys? The Wall Street Journal reports that mustache transplants are all the rage in Turkey, particularly among visiting male tourists. The procedure involves removing clusters of hair follicles from hairy parts of the body and relocating them above the lip for a thicker ‘stache or on the face for a fuller beard.

• If you feel like exercise is more punishment than fun activity, you’re not alone: Modern Family’s Sofia Vergara told the New York Times that’s exactly how she feels. Which is why they ran the headline, “Sofia Vergara Hates to Exercise.”

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