Immediate treatment 'improves back pain recovery'

People with back pain could experience a better recovery if they skipped the waiting list for immediate treatment, a new study has suggested.

Two groups of lower back pain patients were compared in the study - one which waited for treatment and the other which received physiotherapy immediately.

Thesis author Lena Nordeman, of Sahlgrenska Academy, explained: "I wanted to find out whether patients' low back pain could be alleviated in the long run if primary care clinics could offer examinations and treatment by a physiotherapist without any delay in the form of a doctor's referral or waiting list."

Although the lower back pain in both groups was seen to improve, the recovery of the patients who had received earlier and more individualised treatment was more likely to be sustained after six months.

This comes after Vicky Johnston, chartered physiotherapist from the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, recommended that older people take up resistance training in order to combat the muscle loss seen in ageing.

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