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

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.

• Behavioral: Back School Intervention
  Patients were submitted once a week for 5 consecutive weeks to sessions of 45 minutes including: 15-minute lectures about basics of spine's anatomy, ergonomics, techniques of lifting and transportation of weights and volumes, body posture in several daily tasks and situations, and spine preventive care; 30 minutes of on-place supervised exercises for posture and spine flexibility (muscle stretching, relaxation, strengthening)
  Other Name: BS
• Behavioral: Supervised Walking Intervention
  Patients were submitted once a week for 5 consecutive weeks to sessions of 45 minutes including: 15-minute lectures about basics of physical activity, its advantages and benefits, barriers and facilitators, types and opportunities; 30 minutes of on-place supervised walking in group.
  Other Name: W
• Behavioral: Back School and Walking
  Weekly sessions of 90 minutes including: 30-minute lectures about basics of spine's anatomy, ergonomics, techniques of lifting and transportation of weights and volumes, body posture in several daily tasks and situations, spine preventive care, and about physical activity, its advantages and benefits, barriers and facilitators, types and opportunities
  Other Name: BS+W
• Behavioral: Control Group
  Weekly sessions of 45 minutes including lectures about: stress control, healthy nutrition (2 lectures), sleep hygiene and injury prevention.; beside the 2-page folder content this group received no other information about LBP, BS or walking all along the follow-up.
  Other Name: CG

• Back School
  Participants received weekly sessions of 45 minutes including: 15-minute lectures about basics of spine's anatomy, ergonomics, techniques of lifting and transportation of weights and volumes, body posture in several daily tasks and situations, and spine preventive care; 30 minutes of on-place supervised exercises for posture and spine flexibility (muscle stretching, relaxation, strengthening)
  Intervention: Behavioral: Back School Intervention
• Supervised Walking
  Participants received weekly sessions of 45 minutes including: 15-minute lectures about basics of physical activity, its advantages and benefits, barriers and facilitators, types and opportunities; 30 minutes of on-place supervised walking in group
  Intervention: Behavioral: Supervised Walking Intervention
• Back School and Walking
  Participants received weekly sessions of 90 minutes including: 30-minute lectures about basics of spine's anatomy, ergonomics, techniques of lifting and transportation of weights and volumes, body posture in several daily tasks and situations, spine preventive care, and about physical activity, its advantages and benefits, barriers and facilitators, types and opportunities; 30 minutes of on-place supervised exercises for posture and spine flexibility (muscle stretching, relaxation, strengthening); 30 minutes of on-place supervised walking in group
  Intervention: Behavioral: Back School and Walking
• Control Group
  Participants received weekly sessions of 45 minutes including lectures about: stress control, healthy nutrition (2 lectures), sleep hygiene and injury prevention; beside the 2-page folder content this group received no other information about LBP, BS or walking all along the follow-up.
  Intervention: Behavioral: Control Group

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