A new treatment for low back pain that targets the nervous system

brain training works pain and disability

People who suffer from chronic back pain are being given hope with new treatments that focus on retraining the way your back and brain communicate.

Paper published today in Journal of the American Medical Association reveals the results of research by Brunel University London, the University of New South Wales and other universities in Australia and Europe.

Researchers compared 138 chronic back pain patients who received a 12-week sensorimotor training course with 138 who received a 12-week sham treatment course.

Dr Neil O’Connell, Brunel University London, said:

“Our trial used a carefully designed sham control group, so we can be confident that the benefits we observed are a result of this new treatment approach. It’s about seeing if it’s seen more widely.”

Sensorimotor retraining switches how people think about their bodies in pain, how they process sensory information from their backs, and how they move their backs during activity. .

People with chronic back pain should be able to seek treatment from trained physical therapists, exercise physiologists, and other clinicians.

“What we observed in our study was a clinically meaningful effect on pain intensity and a clinically meaningful effect on disability. Professor James McCauley From UNSW.

“People reported being happier, having an easier back, and having a better quality of life. And these effects seemed to last longer. Twice as many people made a full recovery. Long-term Few low-back pain treatments are effective, yet trial participants reported an improvement in quality of life after one year.”

This new treatment challenges traditional treatments for chronic back pain by viewing long-term back pain as a modifiable problem of the nervous system rather. than disc, bone, or muscle problems.

“Comparing the results to studies comparing opioid treatment with placebo, the difference was less than one-tenth in pain intensity, and it was short-term, with little improvement in disability.” We see similar results: manual therapy to camouflage or exercise to camouflage,” said Professor Macquarie.

“This is a new treatment of its kind for back pain, the largest cause of the global disability burden for the past 30 years, and the first new treatment tested against a placebo.”

This treatment is based on research that has shown that the nervous system in people suffering from chronic back pain behaves differently than in people who have had a recent lower back injury.

People with back pain are often told that their backs are vulnerable and need protection, said Professor McAuley. “This changes how we filter and interpret information from our backs and how we move our backs. The idea that protection is needed seems to reinforce the idea that we need protection. The treatments we have devised aim to break this autonomous cycle,” he said.

“The treatment involves specially designed educational modules and methods, as well as sensorimotor retraining,” said Professor Lorimar Moseley of the University of South Australia.

“This is aimed at correcting a dysfunction that we know is involved in most chronic back pain, and that is a disruption within the nervous system. This disruption is a hypersensitive pain system. and inaccurate communication between the back and the brain.”

Treatment aims to achieve three goals. The first is to align patient understanding with the latest scientific understanding of what causes chronic back pain. Second, it normalizes the way your back and brain communicate with each other. Third, gradually retrain your body and brain to return to their normal protective settings and resume normal activity.

Traditional treatments focus on immobilizing something in the back, injecting discs, loosening joints, and strengthening muscles. According to Professor McAuley, what makes sensorimotor retraining different is that it looks at the whole system. So what people think of their backs, how their backs communicate with their brains, how their backs work, their back health, and more.