A research study printed in The Lancet revealed that Cognitive Functional Therapy (CFT) helped people with long-term back pain. This therapy reduced the amount of pain they felt and made them able to do more things. It also saved each person around $5,000 in medical bills and lost work income.
People with chronic back pain have seen major improvements in their level of pain and the amount of disability they experience due to it. Researchers from three universities looked at nearly 500 people who had been dealing with this kind of pain for an average of four years before a new treatment was tried out on them. The results, published in a well-known medical journal, showed that the intensity of the pain decreased significantly and provided lasting relief after one year since the beginning of this new approach.
A special kind of treatment was used that saved $5000 for each person both in healthcare and work productivity. It also helped everyone make lifestyle changes meant to improve both their mental and social health.
Associate Professor Peter Kent from Curtin School of Allied Health states that the results from the new treatment had a large impact with “important” outcomes.
Professor Kent says that having back pain is one of the most common problems in the world. It makes it hard for people to work and means some people have to end their jobs earlier than expected.
These great results give people who have problems with back pain all over the world hope. It also gives doctors, hospitals and policymakers a plan for how to lower the effect of chronic back pain, safely and based only on the best science.
Cognitive Functional Therapy (CFT) used coaching sessions to help people understand their pain better and relearn how to move without causing any more pain. There were 18 specially trained physiotherapists spread across 20 clinics in Perth and Sydney who provided this treatment.
People with long-term back pain – which included a lot of people who had difficulty doing daily tasks – tried this program in 7 meetings during the span of 12 weeks, and had another follow-up meeting after 6 months. Then they were asked to answer some surveys for 1 year. Most of the participants liked the treatment so much that over 80% of them were happy with it.
Professor Peter O’Sullivan of the Curtin School of Allied Health helped create a new treatment that puts the patient in charge. He said, “This new treatment identifies the person’s unique concerns and movement difficulties, all while receiving professional help from a qualified physiotherapist.”
This is different from other treatments, such as massage, adjusting your spine, taking medicine and having injections. This way of treatment lets the person in charge of their pain, so they understand why it happens and gives them more confidence to start doing things again. It was very surprising that after trialing this new method, people with long-term back pain felt much less pain and distress and this feeling stayed with them for one whole year.
Professor Terry Haines from Monash University studied how much money could be saved through using CFT treatments. The results were that each person who participated in the CFT treatment saved more than $5,000 because they were able to work better both in their paid and unpaid jobs.
This could save lots of money all around the world since lower back pain is making people cut down on work and stop working earlier than expected.
Professor Mark Hancock from Macquarie University was a part of this study. The special treatment, which took place in Perth and Sydney, was led by clever physiotherapists who knew how to help people with lasting lower back pain. They had to learn all about the new treatment over the course of five months before they were finally allowed to start.
Our new study showed us that the physiotherapists had to receive a lot of training before they could become confident enough to correctly provide treatment. This training involved having them practice on real patients and getting feedback from instructors.
Volker Rehbocks, a retired mathematician and dad to two kids, had been dealing with back pain for about one and a half years. He visited his doctor who told him that he had some problems with his bones and so sent him to get an x-ray. The resulting tests showed that there were bone spurs in the area of his spine.
His doctor said that it was time for him to stop doing any activities involving bending or lifting and gave him medicine to reduce inflammation. Unfortunately, he couldn’t even do basic tasks like tying his shoelaces due to the pain he was in. He had to give up any activity involving a lot of bending. Even undergoing treatments at chiropractors only provided temporary relief.
The pain he felt all the time was really affecting how his daily life went. He said that this chronic pain “stole away all the happiness in his life”.
Mr Rehbocks decided to try a new treatment, and the results have been quite amazing. In only a few months, he was once again able to do things that had become difficult before due to his pain: tying shoelaces, bending, gardening, cleaning, working around the house and even lifting heavy objects like car engine parts. Nowadays, he usually rides his bike for long distances without any pain. He happily stated: “I am no longer feeling any pain in my body!”
A group of researchers recently reported the results of a study they conducted to determine whether cognitive functional therapy combined with movement sensor biofeedback or usual care could be used for treating disabling low back pain. The study was published on May 2, 2023 in The Lancet and is titled “RESTORE: a randomised, controlled, three-arm, parallel group, phase 3, clinical trial” and was conducted by Peter Kent, Terry Haines, Peter O’Sullivan, Anne Smith, Amity Campbell, Robert Schutze, Stephanie Attwell, J. P. Caneiro ,Robert Laird ,Kieran O’Sullivan ,Alison McGregor ,Jan Hartvigsen ,Den-Ching A Lee , Alistair Vickery and Mark Hancock.
Scientists from six different countries, like Australia and England, worked together to create a research project. This research was funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council and Curtin University.
