Maybe chiropractors have been given af new cheap tool in their battle against low back pain that can benefit the health of individual patient, public health and socioeconomics: WalkBack, a newly published randomised controlled study, carried out in Australia shows that a combination of patient education and regular 30-minute walks can prevent low back pain.
The study included 701 adults (18 years or older) who had experienced an episode of non-specific low back pain within the previous six months. The participants in the study were randomly divided into an intervention group and a control group.
The intervention group received treatment and education aimed at giving the participant a basic understand of our knowledge about pain and remove the fear of pain from a physiotherapist. Together, the participant and the physiotherapist also developed a tailored personalized and progressive program for how long and how often the participant was going to walk. The target was 30 minutes five days a week during the six months the study lasted. The control group received no treatment or education.
Furthermore, each group was followed for three years to collect information about any new episodes of low back pain and participant in both groups were asked to report on any costs related to their back pain, including time off work and the use of health-care services.
Among the participants in the intervention group, the risk of a recurrence of low back pain that limited daily activity was reduced by 28%, while the recurrence of low back pain leading participants to seek care from a health professional decreased by 43%. Participants in the intervention group had a longer average period before they had a recurrence, with a median of 208 days pain-free, compared to 112 days in the control group.
One factor, which makes walking particularly interesting from a patient’s perspective is that it is a cheap form of treatment compared to other treatments. Hence, it is available to everybody regardless of their financial situation or access to health care. Additionally, walking contributes to better health and well-being generally in the form of improved mood and sleep quality, and reduced risk of several chronic diseases.
Natasha C Pocovi, Chung-Wei Christine Lin, Simon D French, Petra L Graham, Johanna M van Dongen, Jane Latimer, Dafna Merom, Anne Tiedemann, Christopher G Maher, Ornella Clavisi, Shuk Yin Kate Tong, Mark J Hancock. Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of an individualised, progressive walking and education intervention for the prevention of low back pain recurrence in Australia (WalkBack): a randomised controlled trial. The Lancet, June 2024.
Read the research paper