Psychological Interventions + Physical Therapy Ease Chronic Low Back Pain

There are pain therapies that do not require pain medications to treat. Shutterstock

For people with chronic, nonspecific low back pain, psychological interventions are most effective when delivered in conjunction with physical therapy care (mainly structured exercise), according to a review published online March 30 in The BMJ.

Emma Kwan-Yee Ho, from University of Sydney, and colleagues conducted a systematic literature review to identify randomized controlled trials comparing psychological interventions to any comparison intervention in adults with chronic (>12 weeks) nonspecific low back pain.