NIJMEGEN, The Netherlands—When combined with usual care, a single 2.5 hour individual patient education session given by a trained healthcare specialist can help patients with acute or subacute low back pain (LBP) return to work sooner, according to a new review of 24 studies in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews.¹

"Simple patient education sessions of shorter duration or written information to do not seem to be as effective.... [I]f they are evidence-based and up to date there is no reason for not using oral and written education to support treatment," conclude researchers led by Arno J. Engers, MS, of the centre for quality of care research at Radboud University and Nijmegen Medical Centre in The Netherlands.

Data from six studies included in the review suggest that such individualized education may be as effective as interventions like chiropractic manipulation and physiotherapy for patients with acute or subacute LBP. Patients with chronic low back symptoms, however, were less likely to benefit from educational treatments.

The researchers defined individual patient education as "a systematic experience, in a one-to-one situation, that consists of one or more methods such as the provision of information, advice, and behavior modification techniques [to] influence the way the patient experiences his illness and/or his knowledge and health behavior, aimed at improving or maintaining or learning to cope with a condition."

The reviewers found no difference between the effects of the different types of individualized patient education. "What form of educational intervention is preferred and to what context, intensity, and frequency is best remains unclear," they conclude.

Translating research into practice

"More is better in terms of patient education about low back pain," said New York City-based sports medicine physician Lewis Maharam, MD, medical director of the ING New York City marathon and author of several books including A Healthy Back: A Sports Medicine Doctor's Back-Care Program for Everybody.

"When patients understand their pathology, injury, or condition and become a partner with their doctor, there is always a better result and this type of education helps them return to normal activities sooner," Dr. Maharam told MSKreport.com.

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