Spine school for patients with low back pain: Interdisciplinary approach

Abstract

Objective: To analyze and evaluate an interdisciplinary educational treatment - Spine School. Methods: This study is a non-controlled clinical trial. Twenty one individuals (19 women) aged 27-74 years diagnosed with chronic low back pain were enrolled and followed-up by a rheumatologist and an orthopedist. The evaluations used were SF36, Roland Morris, canadian occupational performance measure (COPM) and visual analogue scale (VAS) of pain that were performed before and after seven weeks of treatment. Results: We found statistically significant improvements in vitality (mean 48.10 vs. 81.25) p=0.009 and limitations caused by physical aspects (mean 48.81 vs. 81.25) p=0.038 and perception of pain (mean 6.88 vs. 5.38) p=0.005. Although the results were suggestive of improvement, there were no statistical significant differences in the domains social aspects (average 70.82 vs. 92.86) p=0.078, emotional aspects (average 52.38 vs. 88.95) p=0.078, and the performance satisfaction (mean 4.94 vs. 8.24) p=0.074. Conclusion: The Interdisciplinary Spine School was useful for improvement in some domains of quality of life of people with low back pain.