Most of the previous reviews on preventing low back pain (LBP) have major limitations. The aim of this high-quality systematic review was to document the evidence for interventions relating to LBP and sick leave because of LBP. Twenty-three reports (21 different RCTs including 30,850 unique participants) were included in this review.
The review found documentation for exercise alone reducing LBP episodes by 35% and sick leave by 78%. The review also showed that exercise and education reduced the risk for LBP by 45% and prevented LBP for up to 1 year. The effect sizes were however very much reduced for periods of over 1 year. This important finding suggests that ongoing exercise is necessary and that program focusing on long-term behavior changes as to exercise may be important.
> From: Steffens et al., JAMA Intern Med (2016-01-27 07:37:45) (Epub ahead of print). All rights reserved to American Medical Association. Click here for the online summary.