Try the psychological approach for back pain!

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

Psychological treatments can improve pain and quality of life for those who have chronic back pain.
Chronic back pain is very common and sometimes it is hard to treat. Painkillers and surgery may help but, according to a new review, psychological treatments may also be effective. A team at the VA Connecticut Healthcare System looked at 22 trials done between 1982 and 2003. These included patients who had had back pain for at least three months. In many cases, they had been in pain for several years.

The studies included the use of cognitive behavior therapy, hypnosis, counseling and relaxation. The researchers looked at 12 pain-related outcomes including pain intensity, depression, disability and quality of life. They concluded that psychological interventions, either alone or as part of a multidisciplinary approach, were superior to other approaches on the whole range of pain-related outcomes. The best results were on back pain intensity. This is surprising, as the psychological approach was originally developed to help people live with their back pain rather than to reduce it. Psychological treatments also tend to be more cost-effective for back pain than approaches such as surgery or drug treatments .

Source
Health Psychology January 2007 Volume 26 Issue 1

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