Mind over matter for backache

Psychological treatment can help reduce chronic lower back pain.

Psychological treatment can help reduce chronic low back pain, American scientists say.

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To evaluate the effects of psychological intervention on pain-related outcome, scientists led by Robert Kerns of the VA Connecticut Healthcare System collected gathered data from 22 random trials.

They found that psychological interventions - alone or as part of a multi-disciplinary approach - proved to be superior to standard treatments on pain-related outcomes, reported news wire Newswise.

When the researchers analysed specific outcomes, they found that the largest and most consistent effect was a reduction in pain intensity.

The review found that psychological interventions also yielded improvement in health-related quality of life, work-related disability and depression.