"Active back school", prophylactic management for low back pain: Three-year follow-up of a randomized, controlled trial

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the longterm effect of the Active Back School programme on minimizing recurrences of episodes of l ow back pain. Forty-three subjects were randomly allocated to the Active Ba ck School group and 38 to the control group. There were no significant diff erences between the groups with regard to baseline characteristics. The Act ive Back School programme. comprised 20 lessons each divided into a 20-min theoretical and a 40-min exercise part during a 13-week period. Nine partic ipants (11%) dropped out during the study period. Recurrence of new low bac k pain episodes was significantly less (p = 0.04), and the time from inclus ion to the first new low back pain episode was significantly on the side of the Active Back School group (p < 0.01). The duration of sick leave was fo und to be significantly shorter (p < 0.01) in the Active Back School group compared to the control group. The Active Back School reduced the recurrenc e and severity of new low back pain episodes at 36 months' follow-up.