Prognosis and Course of Disability in Patients With Chronic Nonspecific Low Back Pain: A 5- and 12-Month Follow-up Cohort Study.
As physical therapist it is hard to tell patients something about the course and predictors for disability in patients with Chronic Non-Specific Low Back Pain (CNSLBP). The aim of this large cohort study (1760 patients) is to identify prognostic factors of disability in CNSLBP patients receiving multidisciplinary therapy.
The study cohort followed a therapy program (biopsychosocial model) of 2 months with two sessions of 3 hours a week followed by 3 months self-supporting activity. The prognostic factors were evaluated at baseline and at 2, 5 and 12 months follow-up. A 30% improvement in LBP specific disability (measured with the Quebec Back Pain Disability Scale QBPDS) was defined as recovery.
For recovery at 5 and 12 months, the following prognostic factors were pointed: younger age, high scores on disability and on the SF-36 at baseline. A shorter duration of complaints was a positive predictor at 5-months follow-up and having no co-morbidity and less pain at baseline were positive predictors at 12-months.
This study provides information that can be used in predicting the course of recovery within a CNSLBP patient. > From: Verkerk et al., Phys Ther. (2013) (Epub ahead of print). All rights reserved to the American Physical Therapy Association.
The Pubmed summary of the article can be found here.
The, in the summary mentioned, SF-36 questionnaire can be downloaded here.