29th October 2007

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New research from the University of Ulster will explore the links between activity and low back pain.

Contrary to common belief, activity can actually aid recovery for low back pain sufferers, and researchers in the School of Rehabilitation Sciences aim to find out more about this link. 

Professor Suzanne McDonough, who is leading the research team said: “Back pain is a common and costly problem, 80% of us will have back pain at some point in our lives. 

“Often when people have back pain they think that they need to protect their back from further damage and may become less active. However the European Guidelines for low back pain make it clear that for the majority of people, rest makes their pain worse whereas being active aids recovery.

“Becoming active can be difficult to do on your own and people are often afraid to exercise because it can increase their pain; this is where our study can help. We are running a research study which offers six weeks of supervised exercise classes to people with low back pain, followed by six weeks of telephone support.   

“The classes and the telephone support will be run by qualified physiotherapists who are experts in helping people to learn to manage their back pain and remain active. Physiotherapists will also be encouraging participants to increase their activity outside the classes, for example, taking the stairs instead of the lift or walking to the shop instead of driving.

“We also interested in finding out whether acupuncture, in addition to an exercise class, will help people to stick to their exercise classes and daily activity plans.” 

For further information on this study contact:  Professor Suzanne McDonough at email: Apep@ulster.ac.uk or freephone telephone number: 0800 013 2168. 

Information on the trial can also be found at: http://www.science.ulster.ac.uk/hrsri/apep.html#trial.

For further information, please contact:

Trina Porter
Telephone: 028 71675511
Email: Trina Porter