{"id":47585,"date":"2025-08-06T09:41:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T09:41:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/47585\/"},"modified":"2025-08-06T09:41:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T09:41:09","slug":"got-a-bad-back-this-is-the-scientific-way-to-cure-it-and-its-more-effective-long-term-than-drugs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/47585\/","title":{"rendered":"Got a bad back? This is the scientific way to cure it… and it’s more effective long term than drugs"},"content":{"rendered":"

By EMILY STEARN, SENIOR HEALTH REPORTER<\/a> <\/p>\n

Published: 03:32 EDT, 6 August 2025 | Updated: 04:41 EDT, 6 August 2025 <\/p>\n

The cure for debilitating back pain could be mind over matter, shock research suggested today.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Treatments for chronic\u2014or long-term\u2014back pain have long been limited and offer just ‘small to moderate’ temporary benefits.<\/p>\n

But now, Australian researchers believe talking therapies can help sufferers live a more active life.<\/p>\n

And the benefit can be seen for up to three years after treatment.<\/p>\n

Often psychotherapists use\u00a0various talking therapies to help people with mental health conditions such as anxiety or depression<\/a>, or other emotional issues, from tackling stress to breaking bad<\/a> habits.<\/p>\n

Scientists today labelled the treatment ‘high-value and low-risk’ and said it ‘markedly reduce the effect of chronic back pain’.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the study, the researchers from Macquarie University in Sydney focused on a type of\u00a0psychotherapy called cognitive functional therapy (CFT), which\u00a0focuses on understanding how thoughts, emotions, and behaviors contribute to pain.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Recruiting more than 1,000 patients with lower back pain, a\u00a0third were given ‘usual care’, while a third were given CFT.<\/p>\n

\"Treatments <\/p>\n

Treatments for chronic\u2014or long-term\u2014back pain have long been limited and offer just ‘small to moderate’ temporary benefits\u00a0<\/p>\n

The final third were treated with CFT plus another technique known as biofeedback, which tries to teach a person to control automatic body functions.<\/p>\n

People who received ‘usual care’ were given what their GP surgery recommended or what they chose from their local services, which can include a combination of pain medication and self-management tips.<\/p>\n

Those receiving CFT had seven treatment sessions over 12 weeks, as well as a booster session at 26 weeks, which last between 30 and 60 minutes.<\/p>\n

Of the 1,000 participants, 300 people with an average age of 48 continued the study to the three-year follow-up point.<\/p>\n

Researchers then found that CFT, and CFT and biofeedback, were both more effective than usual care in reducing activity limitation caused by lower back pain.<\/p>\n

And they also were more effective for reducing pain intensity at three years.<\/p>\n

There were no significant differences among patients who did and did not use biofeedback techniques, prompting researchers to say the use of biofeedback ‘did not add to effectiveness’.<\/p>\n

Writing in the journal Lancet Rheumatology<\/a>, they said: ‘Treatment sessions of CFT produced sustained effects at three years for people with chronic disabling low back pain.<\/p>\n

‘These long-term effects are novel and provide the opportunity to markedly reduce the effect of chronic back pain if the intervention can be widely implemented.’<\/p>\n

They added: ‘CFT is the first treatment for chronic disabling low back pain with good evidence of large, long-term effects on disability.<\/p>\n

‘It offers a high-value, low-risk intervention with long-term benefits for patients with persistent, disabling low back pain.’<\/p>\n

Back pain\u00a0is the most common form of pain experienced by adults, however, there is usually no immediately identifiable cause.<\/p>\n

In many cases, it’s a short-term problem, caused by a strain affecting the muscles, tendons or ligaments.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But around nine million people in England live with back pain, according to the charity Arthritis Research UK.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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