Chronic back pain affects millions of people worldwide, and it can lead to disability, loss of work productivity, and early retirement.
However, there is hope for those who suffer from chronic back pain.
A new treatment called Cognitive Functional Therapy (CFT) was tested by Curtin-Macquarie-Monash University research, and it has shown promising results.
The treatment offers personalized and intensive coaching sessions to help people make sense of their pain, retrain their movements to reduce pain, and build confidence in activities they had been afraid of or were avoiding.
Large Clinically Significant Improvements in Pain and Pain-Related Disability
The new treatment has produced compelling evidence that it had a large and lasting impact at a “clinically important” level.
The research found large clinically significant improvements in the intensity of pain and pain-related disability among almost 500 people who had been seeking help for their pain for an average of four years before trialing the new treatment.
Moreover, the treatment has delivered health care and work productivity saving of more than $5,000 per person, taking a whole-person approach by helping people make lifestyle changes aimed at improving their social and emotional health.
Personalized and Intensive Coaching Sessions
The treatment differs from traditional, more passive approaches, such as massage, spinal manipulation, medication, and injections.
This is because it puts the person in charge of their condition, helping them to understand the factors contributing to their pain, and building control and confidence in their body to get back to valued activities.
Participants living with chronic back pain tested the program in up to seven sessions over a 12-week period, followed by a booster session at six months.
They were followed up by questionnaires until 12 months. More than 80 percent of the participants were satisfied with the treatment.
Co-author Professor Peter O’Sullivan, also from the Curtin School of Allied Health, who developed the new treatment, said it put the patient at the center of care.
This new treatment takes on board the individual characteristics of the person who has been living with chronic back pain by addressing their concerns and movement limitations under the skilled guidance of a trained physiotherapist.
Economic Efficiency
The findings delivered significant health care and work productivity savings. Participants who took part in the CFT treatment saved more than $5,000 per person, largely driven by improvements in their productivity in both paid and unpaid work.
This has the potential to deliver significant savings to the global economy because the burden of lower back pain is contributing to a loss of work productivity and early retirement worldwide.
Conclusion
Chronic back pain can be a debilitating condition that affects people’s quality of life, but this new treatment offers hope to those who suffer from it.
CFT focuses on personalized and intensive coaching sessions to help people make lifestyle changes aimed at improving their social and emotional health.
The results of the research showed large clinically significant improvements in the intensity of pain and pain-related disability, and it delivered a health care and work productivity saving of more than $5,000 per person.
The training of physiotherapists is crucial to ensure that the intervention is delivered at a high standard. This treatment could be a valuable solution to the growing burden of chronic back pain globally.
If you care about pain, please read studies about yogurt linked to lower frailty in older people, and tart cherry could help reduce inflammation.
For more information about health, please see recent studies that painkiller ibuprofen may strongly influence your liver, and results showing Marijuana for pain relief may lead to withdrawal symptoms.
The study was published in The Lancet.
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