A single course of psychotherapy can provide relief for years to people suffering from debilitating back pain, according to a new study.
The research, published in The Lancet Rheumatology, shows that cognitive functional therapy, CFT, can ease low back pain for at least three years.
Low back pain is a chronic condition and one of the leading causes of disability worldwide, marked by unpredictable recurrences and pain flare-ups.
Although it affects over 600 million people worldwide, and is projected to impact around 840 million by 2050, most treatments only yield small to moderate improvement.
CFT is currently the first line of treatment for chronic low back pain but how effective and lasting its benefits are isn’t well understood.
CFT is an individualised approach that seeks to alter a patient’s relationship with their chronic pain and works by targeting unhelpful cognitions, emotions, and behaviours that contribute to pain and disability.
The latest study shows that CFT effectively improves physical activity participation among those with low back pain for up to three years.
In the study, scientists assessed data from about 500 patients with chronic low back pain in Australia who were randomly assigned to receive eight treatment sessions of usual care, CFT, or CFT plus biofeedback, a technique that uses sensors to measure body functions such as heart rate and enable the patient to modify them.
Usual care was any treatment recommended to patients by healthcare providers, including painkillers, physical therapy or massage.
The study showed that patients who received CFT and CFT plus biofeedback saw improvements in their physical activity participation over usual care.
The difference between those receiving CFT only and CFT plus biofeedback at three years was found to be small and not significant.
People with CFT could change their mindset about pain and self-manage through movement patterns and lifestyle improvements, the study found.
Based on the findings, researchers say CFT has long-term benefits on physical activity for those with low back pain, providing an opportunity to ease discomfort if the intervention can be widely implemented.
“CFT can produce large and sustained improvements for people with chronic disabling low back pain at considerably lower societal cost than that of usual care,” the study noted.
Researchers call for scaling up of clinician training for greater accessibility and widespread implementation of CFT.
