Suffering from low back pain? Discover surprisingly quick ways to alleviate it!
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Low back pain is a common ailment that can be debilitating, leaving many people wondering, 'when will this pain finally subside?'
It's a leading cause of disability worldwide, and yet, in 90 per cent of cases, it's not linked to any specific disease or physical injury.
This makes it challenging to predict how long the discomfort will last, leaving many people feeling helpless and frustrated.
However, a team of Australian researchers has shed some light on this issue, suggesting that people need to rethink our expectations about low back pain recovery.
Their findings indicate that relief may not be as immediate as people would like, but it's certainly on the horizon.
Low back pain can manifest as a dull ache or sharp pain, sometimes radiating into other parts of your body, like your legs.
While it can be due to a fracture, muscle tear, or a condition like arthritis, in most cases, it's inexplicable, or in medical terms, non-specific.
Analysing data from around 20,000 people worldwide, researchers from the University of South Australia found that 70 per cent of people with non-specific acute low back pain recover within six weeks.
For those still in pain after six weeks, around 70 per cent will have improved after another six weeks.
This means that approximately 90 per cent of people have improved after three months.
‘So a lot of back pain will take care of itself, and we won't ever know why it started,’ Lead Researcher and Professor of Clinical Neurosciences Lorimer Moseley said.
However, for those still in pain after three months, the outlook is less optimistic.
These individuals often still experience moderate to high levels of pain and disability by the 12-month mark.
'Once you've got chronic back pain, it tends to hang around,' Moseley said.
‘Recovery rates are much lower once it's been around after three months.’
But Professor Moseley noted that people still aren't able to accurately predict who will recover after six weeks and who won't.
‘We do know things that will change your likelihood of recovering though.’
Certain factors can increase your risk of progressing from acute to chronic low back pain.
These include being older, female, from a non-English speaking background, or having a lower socio-economic status.
Other risk factors may include high levels of fear or anxiety about feeling pain, low self-efficacy, stressful life events around the time the condition begins, depression, and higher body weight.
However, Christopher Maher, Director of the Institute for Musculoskeletal Health, points out that these predictors aren't always reliable and are mainly things people can't change about themselves.
‘So we're better off looking at the things we can control,’ Maher added.
The best advice for acute low back pain is to avoid bed rest and keep moving.
Seeing a doctor to rule out conditions like fractures is recommended by Director Maher, but most people will be advised to gradually resume normal activities and apply heat for relief.
Consulting a physiotherapist may be beneficial if there's no improvement within a couple of weeks.
For chronic back pain, treatment often involves both the mind and the body.
Professor Moseley emphasises the need to change our thinking about back pain, as it's often not linked to a physical injury or pathology.
‘We've got to get rid of the idea of things being “wrecked” because with most back pain, nothing is wrecked.’
Believing that you have sustained some anatomical damage can make you scared to move and lead to negative beliefs about your recovery.
Sensorimotor retraining, which focuses on pain education and improving tactile acuity, can be beneficial.
Chronic pain can make it hard to accurately locate where you are being touched on the back, but enhancing this can improve information processing between the back and brain.
This is important as most people with chronic pain have a ‘pain system hypersensitivity’ which means their nervous system senses pain in harmless situations.
Two Australian clinical trials regarding low back pain, called Resolve and Restore, studied the sensorimotor retraining and another similar treatment called cognitive functional therapy with great positive outcomes.
In the Restore trial, people who went to 12 weekly clinical sessions with physiotherapists trained in cognitive functional therapy (CFT) had bigger reductions in pain and disability than those who did standard physio sessions.
Over 80 per cent of participants expressed satisfaction with the CFT treatment.
While effective interventions are available, getting them to the people who need them is a challenge.
This is partly because there aren't enough physiotherapists trained in how to provide these programs. Additionally, Medicare doesn't cover cognitive functional therapy or sensorimotor retraining.
Despite the Restore trial finding that these techniques cost less than standard treatments for back pain and produce an economic benefit of $5,000 per person over a year, people who've been in pain for longer than six months can only get up to five subsidised sessions with an allied health professional if their GP has created a chronic disease management plan.
Director Maher said it is not enough for the new programs, which need between eight and 12 sessions to be effective and have better results.
‘Even if the person has the full cap of five available the person cannot access these programs via Medicare. The cap is frustrating for the GP, the patient and physio,’ Maher says.
‘It would really be worthwhile for the federal government investing in this...but at the moment they're reimbursing people for things like spinal surgery or spinal cord stimulators or opioids which are all pointless.’
Research has found that placebos are no more effective than opioids at relieving back pain and surgery is not considered the best practice anymore.
Director Maher also said that the new treatments give an opportunity to enhance the lives of many Australians and debunk predictions that by 2050 there will be a 50 per cent increase in low back pain cases.
'A lot of people want to push this bad message about back pain, but there's really good evidence about what we should be doing, so let's act upon that,' Maher added.
While low back pain can be a challenging condition to manage, there are effective treatments available.
By understanding the nature of the pain and seeking appropriate help, it's possible to alleviate the discomfort and improve quality of life.
So, if you're suffering from low back pain, don't despair. Help is at hand, and relief could be closer than you think.
What do you think of this story, members? Do you know some other tips for back pain? Let us know in the comments below!
It's a leading cause of disability worldwide, and yet, in 90 per cent of cases, it's not linked to any specific disease or physical injury.
This makes it challenging to predict how long the discomfort will last, leaving many people feeling helpless and frustrated.
However, a team of Australian researchers has shed some light on this issue, suggesting that people need to rethink our expectations about low back pain recovery.
Their findings indicate that relief may not be as immediate as people would like, but it's certainly on the horizon.
In general cases, the cause of lower back pains are not quite known. Image: Freepik
Low back pain can manifest as a dull ache or sharp pain, sometimes radiating into other parts of your body, like your legs.
While it can be due to a fracture, muscle tear, or a condition like arthritis, in most cases, it's inexplicable, or in medical terms, non-specific.
Analysing data from around 20,000 people worldwide, researchers from the University of South Australia found that 70 per cent of people with non-specific acute low back pain recover within six weeks.
For those still in pain after six weeks, around 70 per cent will have improved after another six weeks.
This means that approximately 90 per cent of people have improved after three months.
‘So a lot of back pain will take care of itself, and we won't ever know why it started,’ Lead Researcher and Professor of Clinical Neurosciences Lorimer Moseley said.
However, for those still in pain after three months, the outlook is less optimistic.
These individuals often still experience moderate to high levels of pain and disability by the 12-month mark.
'Once you've got chronic back pain, it tends to hang around,' Moseley said.
‘Recovery rates are much lower once it's been around after three months.’
But Professor Moseley noted that people still aren't able to accurately predict who will recover after six weeks and who won't.
‘We do know things that will change your likelihood of recovering though.’
Certain factors can increase your risk of progressing from acute to chronic low back pain.
These include being older, female, from a non-English speaking background, or having a lower socio-economic status.
Other risk factors may include high levels of fear or anxiety about feeling pain, low self-efficacy, stressful life events around the time the condition begins, depression, and higher body weight.
However, Christopher Maher, Director of the Institute for Musculoskeletal Health, points out that these predictors aren't always reliable and are mainly things people can't change about themselves.
‘So we're better off looking at the things we can control,’ Maher added.
The best advice for acute low back pain is to avoid bed rest and keep moving.
Seeing a doctor to rule out conditions like fractures is recommended by Director Maher, but most people will be advised to gradually resume normal activities and apply heat for relief.
Consulting a physiotherapist may be beneficial if there's no improvement within a couple of weeks.
For chronic back pain, treatment often involves both the mind and the body.
Professor Moseley emphasises the need to change our thinking about back pain, as it's often not linked to a physical injury or pathology.
‘We've got to get rid of the idea of things being “wrecked” because with most back pain, nothing is wrecked.’
Believing that you have sustained some anatomical damage can make you scared to move and lead to negative beliefs about your recovery.
Sensorimotor retraining, which focuses on pain education and improving tactile acuity, can be beneficial.
Chronic pain can make it hard to accurately locate where you are being touched on the back, but enhancing this can improve information processing between the back and brain.
This is important as most people with chronic pain have a ‘pain system hypersensitivity’ which means their nervous system senses pain in harmless situations.
Two Australian clinical trials regarding low back pain, called Resolve and Restore, studied the sensorimotor retraining and another similar treatment called cognitive functional therapy with great positive outcomes.
In the Restore trial, people who went to 12 weekly clinical sessions with physiotherapists trained in cognitive functional therapy (CFT) had bigger reductions in pain and disability than those who did standard physio sessions.
Over 80 per cent of participants expressed satisfaction with the CFT treatment.
While effective interventions are available, getting them to the people who need them is a challenge.
This is partly because there aren't enough physiotherapists trained in how to provide these programs. Additionally, Medicare doesn't cover cognitive functional therapy or sensorimotor retraining.
Despite the Restore trial finding that these techniques cost less than standard treatments for back pain and produce an economic benefit of $5,000 per person over a year, people who've been in pain for longer than six months can only get up to five subsidised sessions with an allied health professional if their GP has created a chronic disease management plan.
Director Maher said it is not enough for the new programs, which need between eight and 12 sessions to be effective and have better results.
‘Even if the person has the full cap of five available the person cannot access these programs via Medicare. The cap is frustrating for the GP, the patient and physio,’ Maher says.
‘It would really be worthwhile for the federal government investing in this...but at the moment they're reimbursing people for things like spinal surgery or spinal cord stimulators or opioids which are all pointless.’
Research has found that placebos are no more effective than opioids at relieving back pain and surgery is not considered the best practice anymore.
Director Maher also said that the new treatments give an opportunity to enhance the lives of many Australians and debunk predictions that by 2050 there will be a 50 per cent increase in low back pain cases.
'A lot of people want to push this bad message about back pain, but there's really good evidence about what we should be doing, so let's act upon that,' Maher added.
While low back pain can be a challenging condition to manage, there are effective treatments available.
By understanding the nature of the pain and seeking appropriate help, it's possible to alleviate the discomfort and improve quality of life.
So, if you're suffering from low back pain, don't despair. Help is at hand, and relief could be closer than you think.
What do you think of this story, members? Do you know some other tips for back pain? Let us know in the comments below!
