If you’ve experienced a sharp, shooting pain down your leg or you’ve overheard an old relative exclaim about their back acting up again, you’re probably familiar with the term ‘sciatica’. Sciatica is a common condition, which can be very distressing and debilitating for those who suffer from it. This insight will give you an understanding of what causes sciatica, and what you should do to manage it effectively.
If you’ve had low back pain before, you’ve likely experienced flare ups and episodes of the same, or similar pain that reoccur over time. In fact, up to one third of people with low back pain with have another episode within 1 year (1). As the old saying goes, “prevention is better than the cure”, if we can prevent low back pain from happening, it would greatly improve our health and wellbeing! A new study has shown the benefit of simple exercise programs and education for back pain prevention. This insight will cover what the study showed, and how we use these strategies to help people in practice.
What did you study do?
This study (2) by some of our colleagues at Macquarie University, wanted to test if a walking program together with education from a physiotherapist would reduce the length of time before a person had another episode of low back pain. They took a total of 750 people and split them into 2 groups. Group 1 gets a walking program and education. Group 2 doesn’t receive anything, because they’re the control group.
The participants were mostly women in their 50s, and didn’t do much physical activity at the time. Each participant in Group 1 had an initial consultation with a physiotherapist, where they helped design a simple walking program. They were told how long to walk for and how often, then how to slowly progress this over time. Additionally, the physiotherapist provided education around how to best manage low back pain, and how to prevent future episodes.
What did they show?
Both groups were followed up at 12 months and 3 years and were asked about their low back pain. The main result they looked for was; did the walking and education reduce the time between episodes of low back pain? The answer was yes! In the graph, the control group (group 2) averaged 112 days between episodes of back pain. Whereas the intervention group (group 1) averaged 208 days. Meaning people who had the walking program and pain education had an extra 96 days/3 months before another episode of low back pain
How do we implement these strategies at DMC Health?
These results show the important role of a simple exercise program and education can have on back pain prevention. These are the messages we provide our patients that come to see us at DMC Health. Every patient is provided with education which is relevant to their specific condition and situation. We encourage a proactive approach to prevent pain from affecting you, including physical activity and exercise. If you want to learn more about how we help you prevent future episodes, check out another of our insights (https://www.dmchealth.com.au/proactive-chiropractic-treatment/).
We aim to make the path to recovery and wellbeing as simple as possible, and guide you along the journey. Are you or someone you know suffering from low back pain? Or want to prevent back pain from coming back? Get in touch with the team at DMC Health today.
About the authors
David McNaughton is a clinician, researcher and lecturer. He is the director and principal chiropractor at DMC Health & Wellness. He has an extensive background in the diagnosis and management of chronic pain. In addition to his clinical studies, David holds a Master’s of Research and PhD in Psychology. He regularly publishes his research in peer reviewed medical and psychology journals. David has taught both undergraduate and postgraduate studies in Chiropractic and Psychology.
Isaac Searant completed a Bachelor of Chiropractic Science, Master of Chiropractic and Master of Research at Macquarie University. His research aims integrate chiropractic and physiotherapy into general practice for the effective management of low back pain. His clinical interests include spinal pain (neck and back) and sporting injuries. Regardless of the condition, his goal as a chiropractor is to work collaboratively with patients.
References
- Da Silva T, Mills K, Brown BT, Herbert RD, Maher CG, Hancock MJ. Risk of recurrence of low back pain: a systematic review. journal of orthopaedic & sports physical therapy. 2017 May;47(5):305-13.
- Pocovi NC, Lin CW, French SD, Graham PL, van Dongen JM, Latimer J, Merom D, Tiedemann A, Maher CG, Clavisi O, Tong SY. 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. 2024 Jun 19.
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