A Shift from Pills to Manage Chronic Low Back Pain

Low back pain ranks as a leading cause of disability worldwide, yet conventional treatments, such as medications, often fail to provide lasting relief. Australian scientists demonstrated that there is a method that could really make back pain a thing of the past, in a study conducted by University of Sydney’s Centre for Rural Health (1^✔ ✔Trusted Source
Healthy Lifestyle Care vs Guideline-Based Care for Low Back Pain

Go to source). According to their research published in JAMA, they found that embracing lifestyle interventions in back pain clinical practice leads to lowered disability and improved quality of life.

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A Holistic Approach to Back Pain Management

The study falls into randomized control trial and the targeted participants included 346 independent and intact communities across Australia. All participants had at least one ‘lifestyle’ pathology risk factor including obesity and or sedentary lifestyles, poor dietary habits, smoking, and sleep deprivation as well as chronic low back pain.

Participants were randomly divided into two groups: One group got the “Healthy Lifestyle Program (HeLP)” and the other received conventional physiotherapy interventions according to the published protocols.

What did the Healthy Lifestyle Program Entail

In addition to diet support, the HeLP group received multidisciplinary support

• Physiotherapists: Discussed physical conditioning and approaches to the treatment of back pain.
• Dietitians: Gave counselling about balanced diet.
• Telephone Health Coaches: Assisted participants to discover other areas of their lifestyle that impact their back pain, including obesity, lack of exercises, smoking, and drinking habits.

The idea was to provide participants with country-specific evidence-based recommendations appropriate for their circumstances over six months. Some of these chronic pain patients received comprehensive care that promoted this model, including therapies that worked on lifestyle aspects of their pain.

The HeLP program showed remarkable benefits compared to standard physiotherapy care:

• Reduced Disability: They also reported less disability on the Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire than at baseline, losing on average 1.3 points.
• Weight Loss: The overweight participants in the study lost on average 1.6kgs more than the participants in the control group.

These improvements support the objectives of this review, which is to argue the need to use a more comprehensive model for tackling back pain.

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Changing Attitudes Towards Management of Low Back Pain

Chief Investigator, Associate Professor Chris Williams added that management of back pain requires a change of approach. “Tackling back pain issue involves a concept beyond the back area or the spinal column,” added Williams. Our bodies are complex environments where different components react uniquely to various stimuli. For chronic low back pain, treatment that integrates further care necessary in other areas of the body is essential.

Williams also said that most of the conventional approaches to back pain management that involve surgery or the use of drugs do not solve the problem of chronic pain. Worse, these interventions may sometimes lead to some harm.

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Self Management Tools for Back Pain

The program was described by lead author Dr. Emma Mudd to have enjoyed a positive effect on the attendees. Thus, patients with chronic back pain suffer loneliness, expensive interventions that do not help them, and lack of support. Who gets to lifestyle modification with rather straightforward and encouraging information, so patients feel like they can deal with pain on their own.’

In addition to relieving pain, the HeLP program promotes better health and decreases the risk of other diseases, such as cardiovascular disorders and diabetes.

These findings highlight the need for new approach for managing back pain worldwide that incorporated lifestyle support. It is advisable for clinicians to take patient-centered care where lifestyle changes are involved. As mentioned by Associate Professor Williams, there are no specific measures that define this process. What does matter is to target the patients and make them responsive and engaged in the medical processes.

The findings from this study pave the way for a broader adoption of holistic, lifestyle-focused care in managing chronic conditions.

The findings of the University of Sydney give a very strong argument to reconsider the management of back pain. By shifting from a narrow focus on the spine to a more comprehensive approach that includes lifestyle changes, patients can achieve better outcomes and an improved quality of life.

Reference:

1. Healthy Lifestyle Care vs Guideline-Based Care for Low Back Pain - (https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2828920)

Source-Medindia