New Treatment for Chronic Back Pain: Long-Term Pain Reductions, Health Care Savings, and Improved Quality of Life

Curtin-Macquarie-Monash University researchers have found that a whole-person approach to treating chronic back pain delivered dramatic reductions in pain and related disability that lasted up to one year after treatment. Published in The Lancet, the research revealed significant improvements in pain intensity and pain-related disability among the almost 500 participants who trialed the new approach. The treatment, which included lifestyle changes aimed at improving emotional and social health, also yielded health care and work productivity savings of over $5,000 per person. The personalized and intensive coaching sessions, called Cognitive Functional Therapy (CFT), involved retraining participants to move in ways that reduced their pain, incorporated movement sensor biofeedback, and included a booster session at six months.