A lower back pain study from the University of Sydney has found that between 30-40% of chronic lower back pain sufferers actually have no back pain 12 months after their initial diagnosis.
‘For people with recent onset chronic low back pain, 35% will recover by nine months and 41% by 12 months’
They report that the prognosis is less favourable for those who have taken previous sick leave for low back pain, have high disability levels or high pain intensity at onset of chronic low back pain, have lower education, perceive themselves as having a high risk of persistent pain, and were born outside Australia.
From my point of view this is very good news. I see people who are about 3-6 months into their back injury. It gives me hope and some scientific backup to maybe explain why some people recover from lower back pain, and why others don’t.
Prognosis for patients with chronic low back pain: inception cohort study
