If you’ve ever struggled with low back pain, you know that it can be surprisingly debilitating, even if the discomfort is short-term. You may find it difficult to grocery shop, do housework, play sports, or even tie your shoelaces. When back pain is chronic, lasting 12 weeks or longer, it can impair quality of life and physical function, and contribute to or worsen stress, anxiety, and depression.
While people dealing with chronic back pain are often directed to physical therapy, research shows that psychological approaches that teach strategies to manage your experience of pain can help. So, would combining these approaches do more to ease the pain? A recent systematic review of multiple studies suggests that it might.
How big is this problem, and what did this study find?
Worldwide, low back pain is a leading cause of disability and affects more than 560 million people. In the US, four in 10 people surveyed in 2019 had experienced low back pain within the past three months, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Published in the BMJ, the review drew on 97 studies of adults experiencing chronic, nonspecific low back pain, with or without leg pain. Using statistical modeling, the researchers compared the effectiveness of therapies aimed at improving
- physical function, such as standing, climbing stairs, and managing personal care
- fear avoidance, because fear of pain can lead people to avoid movement, which contributes to the cycle of muscle weakening and further pain
- pain intensity, measured by pain scores from validated rating scales.
The review revealed that physical therapy plus psychological approaches, such as pain education and cognitive behavioral therapy, more effectively improved chronic low back pain than physical therapy alone. More specifically:
- For improving physical function and fear-avoidance, pain education programs in conjunction with physical therapy offered the most sustained effects.
- For improving pain intensity, behavioral therapy combined with physical therapy offered the longest-lasting benefits.
The study shows the advantages of an interdisciplinary approach to chronic low back pain. Integrating behavioral therapy and physical therapy helped people achieve better function, reduce the cycle of avoidant behavior, and reduce the intensity of their pain. In their daily lives, this may lead to more productive workdays and better sleep, as well as enabling people to participate in more social activities, which boosts overall well-being.
What else should you know about this study?
The authors define chronic, nonspecific low back pain as pain between the bottom of the rib cage and buttocks crease, without an identified structural cause like spinal stenosis, cancer, or fracture.
However, “nonspecific” is a controversial term. Many experts on back pain believe that further evaluation might determine specific, multiple factors that contribute to pain.
A physiatrist, also known as a physical medicine and rehabilitation physician, can diagnose a range of pain conditions and help people navigate therapies to manage back pain.
In addition, the authors noted that the reporting of socioeconomic and demographic information was poor and inconsistent across the included studies. This means that the findings of the study may not apply to everyone.
How do psychological therapies help with pain?
Psychological therapies can help people reframe negative thoughts and change pain perception, attitudes, and behaviors. Examples of approaches that aim to reduce pain-related distress are cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), biofeedback, and pain reprocessing therapy (PRT). A recent study evaluating PRT showed that psychological treatment focused on changing beliefs about the causes and consequences of chronic low back pain may provide substantial, long-lasting pain relief.
Neuroscience has demonstrated that the brain and body are always connected, and pain is a combination of medical, cognitive, emotional, and environmental issues. Strategies to manage pain effectively must address your body and brain by integrating physical and psychological therapies, such as functional restoration programs and working with a pain psychologist. Gaining a better understanding of pain, and treating all factors contributing to your chronic pain, can be empowering and healing.
Bible verses for today’s meditation and inspiration: Matthew E. McLaren
2 Corinthians 13:9 For we rejoice when we ourselves are weak but you are strong; this we also pray for, that you be made complete.
Colossians 1:28 We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ.
Colossians 4:12 Epaphras, who is one of your number, a bondslave of Jesus Christ, sends you his greetings, always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God.
2 Corinthians 10:15-16 not boasting beyond our measure, that is, in other men’s labors, but with the hope that as your faith grows, we will be, within our sphere, enlarged even more by you, so as to preach the gospel even to the regions beyond you, and not to boast in what has been accomplished in the sphere of another.
2 Thessalonians 1:3 We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brethren, as is only fitting, because your faith is greatly enlarged, and the love of each one of you toward one another grows ever greater;
2 Peter 3:18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
Ephesians 1:17-18 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
Ephesians 3:16-19 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, read more
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