Trial reportBMC musculoskeletal disorders2015
Persistence of pain in patients with chronic low back pain reported via weekly automated text messages over one year.
Trial report in BMC musculoskeletal disorders, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Pressure pain threshold and temporal summation in adults with episodic and persistent low back pain trajectories: a secondary analysis at baseline and after lumbar manipulation or sham.Chiropractic & manual therapies · 2020Trial
- Clinical course and prognosis of musculoskeletal pain in patients referred for physiotherapy: does pain site matter?BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2017Article
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
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Abstract
backgroundA previous study has suggested that it is uncommon for patients with chronic bothersome low back pain (LBP), who consult the secondary health care sector, to report at least four consecutive weeks without such bothersome pain in 1 year. It is not yet known, however, how many days of the week they experience pain throughout the year.
methodThe current study analyzed data collected in two randomized clinical studies conducted in 2007-9 on patients with back pain (Study 1 and 2). Study participants were patients with LBP for more than 2 months, one group with MRI-defined Modic changes (Study 1) and the other without any pathological explanation for the pain (Study 2). In both studies, participants were followed over 1 year with weekly automated text messages (SMS-Track). Each week they reported the number of days they had experienced bothersome LBP (0-7 days). The number of weeks with 7 days of bothersome LBP was calculated for both study groups. As baseline and outcome characteristics were similar between the intervention and control groups in each study, the data from treatment and control groups in each study were analyzed together, regardless of treatment allocation and the results compared between the two study samples.
resultsThe proportion of patients reporting bothersome LBP all days of the week ranged from 0 to 100 %, with the findings arranged in a U-shaped curve. The pain frequency patterns were remarkably similar for the two study samples. At one extreme, 31 % of participants reported 0-10 % of weeks with daily LBP. At the other extreme, 25 % of participants reported 91-100 % of weeks with daily LBP. The distribution between these values was also very similar for the two groups.
conclusionThis study revealed there to be considerable variation in weekly persistence of symptoms during 1 year in patients from the secondary care sector with chronic LBP. The results range from bothersome pain each day of the week, every week of the year, to no weeks at all with 7 days of pain. Interestingly, this pattern is near-identical in the two study samples; those with non-specific LBP and those with LBP and Modic changes. This heterogeneic pain profile in patients with chronic LBP deserves to be further investigated.
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