Effect of Back School and Supervised Walking in Sedentary Women With Chronic Low Back Pain

Effect of Back School and Supervised Walking in Sedentary Women With Chronic Low Back Pain: a Randomized Controlled Trial.

Do Back School and/or supervised walking improve reported pain and spine flexibility in sedentary women with chronic low back pain (LBP)?

From August 2002 to March 2004, one hundred nineteen volunteers sedentary women with chronic LBP and age ranging from 32 to 60 years old, randomly allocated to four groups of participants assigned as Back School (BS; N=28), Supervised Walking (W; N=32), Back School and Supervised Walking (BS+W; N=29), and Control Group (CG; N=30) were submitted to interventions once a week for 5 consecutive weeks and followed for up to 6 months. The groups BS, W, and BS+W received LBP-targeted lectures and on-place practical sessions of each respective intervention. CG received print information about LBP and 5 different lectures unrelated to LBP.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Age range 30 to 60 years old
• LBP without any known organic cause for at least 3 months of duration
• Less than 90 minutes per week of regular physical activity of any intensity

Exclusion Criteria:

• Any known organic cause of LBP