Exercise, education can reduce your lower back pain

If you often suffer from back pain then there is a health tip for you as a review of medical literature has suggested that exercise alone or in combination with education may reduce the risk of low back pain.

Researcher Daniel Steffens along with other authors reported that moderate-quality evidence suggests that exercise combined with education reduces the risk of an episode of low back pain and low- to very low-quality evidence suggests exercise alone may reduce the risk of both a low back pain episode and the use of sick leave.

They further reported that other interventions, including education alone, back belts and shoe inserts do not appear to be associated with the prevention of low back pain.

The researchers concluded that although their review found evidence for both exercise alone and for exercise and education for the prevention of LBP up to one year, they also found the effect size reduced (exercise and education) or disappeared (exercise alone) in the longer term.

This finding raises the important issue that for exercise to remain protective against future LBP it is likely that ongoing exercise is required.

The research is published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.