Jul 15, 2024
Walking can be an affordable way to manage pain.
Low back pain often comes back and can be a big problem both for individuals and for healthcare costs. Exercise is suggested to help prevent its return, but we don’t know if something simple and affordable like walking can do the trick. This study looked at whether a personalized walking program, combined with education, could prevent low back pain from returning and if it was cost-effective.
The study, called WalkBack, was a randomized controlled trial involving adults from across Australia who had recently recovered from non-specific low back pain (pain without a clear cause). Participants were either put into a walking and education program with six sessions over six months or placed in a control group with no treatment. They were followed for up to three years to see when their pain came back.
Out of 3206 people screened, 701 took part in the study (351 in the walking program and 350 in the control group). The average age was 54, and most participants were women. The results showed that those in the walking program had a lower chance of their pain returning compared to the control group. The median time before pain returned was 208 days for the walking group, compared to 112 days for the control group.
The study also found that the walking program was cost-effective, with an incremental cost of about $7802 per quality-adjusted life-year gained, and a high probability of being worth the cost. However, the walking group did report more lower extremity issues than the control group.
In summary, a personalized walking and education program can significantly reduce the recurrence of low back pain, is affordable, and could change how low back pain is managed.
Reference:
Natasha C Pocovi, Chung-Wei Christine Lin, Simon D French, Petra L Graham, Johanna M van Dongen, Jane Latimer, Dafna Merom, Anne Tiedemann, Christopher G Maher, Ornella Clavisi, Shuk Yin Kate Tong, Mark J Hancock. 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; DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(24)00755-4