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The following is a summary of “Changes in spinal motor behaviour are associated with reduction in disability in chronic low back pain: A longitudinal cohort study with 1-year follow-up,” published in the February 2024 issue of Pain by Christe et al.
Researchers conducted a retrospective study investigating whether improvements in spinal motor behavior mirrored changes in disability after an interdisciplinary rehabilitation program (IRP) in patients with chronic low back pain (CLBP).
They included 71 CLBP patients in an IRP. Biomechanical assessment (lumbar angular amplitude and velocity, erector spinae muscle activity, and task duration), cognitive-emotional (task-specific fear [PRF]), and pain-related (movement-evoked pain [MEP]) measures were conducted before and after the IRP during a lifting task. Disability was assessed before, after, and 3 months and 1 year post-IRP.
The results showed, after adjusting for confounders, disability changes were significantly correlated with MEP alterations (β adj. = 0.49, P<0.001) and PRF modifications (β adj. = 0.36, P=0.008), while no significant association was found with changes in biomechanical measures. At the conclusion of IRP, MEP showed a connection with disability at 3 months (β adj. = 0.37, P=0.001) and 1 year (β adj. = 0.42, P=0.01). End-of-IRP biomechanics, except task duration, showed no significant link to a disability, while task duration correlated significantly with a 3-month disability reduction (β non-adj = 0.5, P<0.001).
Investigators concluded that CLBP patients who improved pain-related and emotional aspects of spinal movement in rehab saw reduced disability.
Source: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ejp.2245
