Oxford Physios Lead Major Clinical Trial Into Back Pain
A TEAM of Oxford physiotherapists is to investigate the benefits of physiotherapy treatment on low back pain, in a major clinical trial involving more than 200 people throughout Oxfordshire and Berkshire.
The team, based at the Physiotherapy Research Unit at Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre in Windmill Road, has been awarded nearly £90,000 by leading medical research charity the Arthritis Research Campaign to carry out the study.
The team will compare two types of therapy on patients who have been referred for physiotherapy by their GP, with back pain lasting for six weeks or longer.
"One group of patients will be have a single session with a physiotherapist, and given advice about activity from a back pain booklet. The other group will also undergo up to six sessions of individual physiotherapy which will include manual therapy and exercise sessions," explained Helen Frost, Co-director of physiotherapy research at Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre.
The patients will be followed up for a year after treatment, to see how they have fared. The research team will also evaluate the cost effectiveness of both treatments.
"Back pain is a very common heath problem, and although the costs of physiotherapy for back pain on the NHS are very large, its effectiveness is uncertain," explained Mrs Frost. "Although there is mounting evidence that general exercise is beneficial, there is less evidence for manual therapy, and that's what we are investigating with this clinical trial."
Physiotherapy centres in Oxford, Abingdon, Wallingford and Reading will take part in the clinical trial.
Increasingly, medical advice to people with back pain is to keep as mobile as possible within their physical limitations, rather than resting for more than 24 hours.
The costs of back pain to the country are huge. In 1998, the cost of direct health care was a staggering £1.6 bn. Physiotherapy cost the NHS £150m, with a further £100m in private physiotherapy costs.
