Lifestyle for lower back pain

To date, interventions for back pain have only shown limited effectiveness.
Therefore, there is growing interest in the importance of lifestyle factors in back pain.
This study by Roberts and colleagues investigated whether a healthy lifestyle and emotional health, such as low stress and depressed mood, is associated with better resilience in back pain.
Resilience refers to a process of adapting to adverse circumstances.
In the context of back pain, this means either recovery or maintenance of normal function.
Data from a twin database was analyzed retrospectively and the course after a back pain episode was examined.
The advantage of twin data is that genetic and familial influences can be controlled for.
In these data, neither a healthier lifestyle nor better emotional health led to a faster recovery from the pain.
However, it was found that people with a higher health score had a higher ability to function despite pain.
However, two things should be noted when evaluating the results.
Firstly, a large number of analyses were carried out with this data set, which increases the risk of false results.
Secondly, the study population was very homogeneous, with a medium to good lifestyle and only a few people from low socio-economic backgrounds.
However, because back pain and its associated functional limitations are so widespread, these are important findings that could help us to reduce people’s suffering a little.
I published a book to enable patients to recognize and implement lifestyle factors within the 5 osteopathic models of organ and body system health: The Osteopathy Self-Help Book.
Patients seem to experience much more lasting positive changes in their health when you take this into account.
Do you consider lifestyle factors in your practice?