THE ESSENTIAL
- Nine out of ten French people have already suffered from back pain.
- Analgesics are not always enough to relieve pain
“Sensorimotor rehabilitation” or re-education of the communication between the back and the brain: this is the therapy that has proven successful in people suffering from chronic back pain, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association
New approach
According to Australian researchers from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA), since the brains and nervous systems of those with low back pain process pain differently – which is proven by previous studies – it is quite a rehabilitation that must be carried out by patients to adopt a new approach to their pain and better support it.
This therapy therefore involves examining what patients think of their back, how the back and the brain communicate, how the back is moved and its physical shape…
“People with back pain often hear that their back is vulnerable and needs to be protected. It changes how we filter and interpret information from our back and how we move it. Over time, the back becomes less fit, and the way the back and the brain communicate is disrupted in ways that seem to reinforce the notion that the back is vulnerable and needs to be protected. The treatment we have designed aims to break this self-perpetuating cycle“, concludes the Professor James McAuley from the UNSW School of Health Sciences and NeuRA.
Clinically significant
The work was carried out on 276 patients divided into two groups. The first followed twelve weeks of sham treatments and the second followed the same duration of “rééducation sensorimotrice“, with conclusive results.
“What we observed in our trial was a clinically significant effect on pain intensity and a clinically significant effect on disability. People were happier, reporting that their backs felt better and their quality of life was better. It also appears that these effects were maintained over the long term; twice as many people have been fully recovered“, welcomed Professor McAuley.
12 weeks
The low back pain is a back pain that is located in the lumbar region. It is said to be acute, when it evolves up to 6 weeks; subacute, between 6 and 12 weeks and chronic, beyond 12 weeks.
It corresponds to pain in the lower back (lumbar vertebrae L1 to L5), in a bar, just above the pelvis. When it is associated with a painful blocking of the lumbar part of the spine, this is called lumbago which corresponds to a muscular contracture.
Low back pain most often appears quite suddenly, usually following a lifting effort, and the pain can be very intense, preventing any movement.
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