Lower back pain is a common and sometimes disabling condition experienced by most Australians.
Around 8-in-10 individuals’ experience lower back pain at least once in their lifetime, and prevalence peaks in adults aged between 35 and 55 years.
While most episodes of lower back pain improve quickly, “approximately 70% of people who recover from an episode of low back pain will have a recurrence within 12 months,” says Mark Hancock, a Professor of Physiotherapy at Macquarie University.
“The focus is usually on treating low back pain when it occurs, but perhaps it makes more sense to shift our focus to prevention,” says Tash Pocovi, a PhD Candidate at Macquarie University.
After all, the adage ‘prevention is better than cure’, surely carries some merit. Research suggests that exercise combined with education, can reduce the risk of future recurrences by nearly 50% – a promising statistic. But despite there being promising evidence for the benefits of exercise – we do not know what type of exercise works best, or if a simple exercise like walking is effective.
Walking is the most common activity participated in by Australian adults. It’s an exercise which is accessible, inexpensive, low impact, and requires little equipment other than a good pair of shoes. It is known to prevent a range of chronic health conditions such as heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, colon cancer, osteoporosis, and depression. However, what remains unclear, is whether a walking and education program can also prevent future recurrences of low back pain. This is precisely the question that Professor Mark Hancock and his research team hope to answer with the WalkBack Trial.
How to Participate
The WalkBack trial is currently recruiting adults, who have experienced low back pain in the last six months and are not currently walking for exercise three or more times per week.
Participants can participate in the trial from anywhere in Australia, providing you have internet access, which the research team and our participating physiotherapists will use to communicate with you.
The trial has already recruited 600 participants and anticipates completing recruitment by May this year.
The trial will randomly assign willing participants to one of two groups. One group will receive a progressive individualised walking and education program delivered by a physiotherapist across six sessions at no cost, and the other group will continue with life as normal (ie: a control group).
Both groups will be followed via a brief monthly questionnaire for one year to see if they have a recurrence of low back pain and gauge the impact of any low back pain on daily life.
Participating in this trial will help researchers and clinicians to improve the current management of recurrent low back pain episodes.
If you are interested and would like to find out more, please visit the trial website (www.walkbacktrial.com) or complete our short online screening survey here: WalkBack-Screening-Form.
