Managing Psychosocial Contributors in Low Back Pain Patientsd-A Randomised Controlled Trial

Introduction: The efficacy of integrated physiotherapy work rehabilitation program to occupational nonspecific low back pain (NSLBP) patients triaged by Orebro Musculoskeletal Pain Questionnaire (OMPQ) for psychosocial risks was investigated. Methods: 47 subjects were recruited and randomly allocated to either the integrated physiotherapy group or the conventional group. Red flags signs were screened out. The range of the age of the patients was between 18 and 55. They either had history injuries at work or were on sick leave upon recruitment with moderate psychosocial risk. Results: Statistics was performed on an intention-to-treat analysis. At discharge, the patients of integrated physiotherapy group displayed significant improvement of work recovery expectation, pain self-efficacy, overall subjective progress and satisfaction in comparison with the conventional group (p < 0.05). Both groups demonstrated significant improvement of all outcome measures except the recovery expectation showed no difference in the conventional group. Conclusion: The work related treatment components of integrated physiotherapy group adopted a cognitive behavioral approach may contribute to better improvement.