Low back pain is one of the most common worldwide healthcare problems. The worldwide prevalence of low back pain is 12% and growing as the world’s population ages. Additionally, we know that about half of people who have an episode of back pain have another episode within one year – back pain becomes a cyclical problem! This study looked at what can be used to avoid recurrences and what works at keeping back pain at bay.

 

How the study was performed

The study looked at previous research that investigated various methods of avoiding future episodes of back pain. These methods included: education, back braces, ergonomic work stations, shoe insoles, and exercise. Only the highest quality research was used to make this comparison (ie. random controlled studies).

 

What we learn from this research

Exercise alone, but especially in combination with education, is effective for preventing low back pain. Back braces, shoe insoles, and education alone do not prevent future occurrences of back pain. Therefore, like we advocate here at the American Back Center, the exercises we do with you in the office must be done on an ongoing basis at home in order to be effective – an exercise won’t do itself!