Overall , as a therapeutic intervention , structured patient education was equal or less effective than other conservative treatments including massage , supervised exercise , and physiotherapy .
However , structured patient education may provide small benefits when combined with physiotherapy .
Either mode of delivery ( ie , oral or written education ) provides similar results in patients with recent WAD .
Results suggest that structured patient education alone can not be expected to yield large benefits in clinical effectiveness compared with other conservative interventions for patients with WAD or NAD .
Moreover , structured patient education may be of benefit during the recovery of patients with WAD when used as an adjunct therapy to physiotherapy or emergency room care .
These benefits are small and short lived
BACKGROUND CONTEXT In 2008 , the Bone and Joint Decade 2000 to 2010 Task Force on Neck Pain and Its Associated Disorders recommended patient education for the management of neck pain .
However , the effectiveness of education interventions has recently been challenged .
PURPOSE To up date the findings of the Bone and Joint Decade 2000 to 2010 Task Force on Neck Pain and Its Associated Disorders and evaluate the effectiveness of structured patient education for the management of patients with whiplash-associated disorders ( WAD ) or neck pain and associated disorders ( NAD ) .
OUTCOME MEASURES Self-rated recovery , functional recovery ( eg , disability , return to activities , work , or school ) , pain intensity , health-related quality of life , psychological outcomes such as depression or fear , or adverse effects .
Population based intervention to change back pain beliefs and disability: three part evaluation
Abstract Objective : To evaluate the effectiveness of a population based , state-wide public health intervention design ed to alter beliefs about back pain , influence medical management , and reduce disability and costs of compensation . Design : Quasi-experimental , non-r and omised , non-equivalent , before and after telephone surveys of the general population and postal surveys of general practitioners with an adjacent state as control group and descriptive analysis of cl aims data base . Setting : Two states in Australia . Participants : 4730 members of general population before and two and two and a half years after campaign started , in a ratio of 2:1:1 ; 2556 general practitioners before and two years after campaign onset . Main outcome measures : Back beliefs question naire , knowledge and attitude statements about back pain , incidence of workers ' financial compensation cl aims for back problems , rate of days compensated , and medical payments for cl aims related to back pain and other cl aims . Results : In the intervention state beliefs about back pain became more positive between successive surveys ( mean improvement in question naire score 1.9 ( 95 % confidence interval 1.3 to 2.5 ) , P<0.001 and 3.2 ( 2.6 to 3.9 ) , P<0.001 , between baseline and the second and third survey , respectively ) . Beliefs about back pain also improved among doctors . There was a clear decline in number of cl aims for back pain , rates of days compensated , and medical payments for cl aims for back pain over the duration of the campaign . Conclusions : A population based strategy of provision of positive messages about back pain improves population and general practitioner beliefs about back pain and seems to influence medical management and reduce disability and workers ' compensation costs related to back pain . What is already known on this topic The number of people with disability from back pain has risen rapidly in the past 50 years Most attempts to limit this disability include modification of occupational risk factors or dealing with the problem once it has developed Patients ' attitudes and beliefs play an important part in the development of such chronic disability What this study adds A population based primary prevention intervention that provided explicit advice about back pain improved beliefs about back pain in the general population and knowledge and attitudes in general practitioners The number of workers ' compensation cl aims for back pain decreased and the rate of days compensated and medical payments for back cl aims were
Overall , as a therapeutic intervention , structured patient education was equal or less effective than other conservative treatments including massage , supervised exercise , and physiotherapy .
However , structured patient education may provide small benefits when combined with physiotherapy .
Either mode of delivery ( ie , oral or written education ) provides similar results in patients with recent WAD .
Results suggest that structured patient education alone can not be expected to yield large benefits in clinical effectiveness compared with other conservative interventions for patients with WAD or NAD .
Moreover , structured patient education may be of benefit during the recovery of patients with WAD when used as an adjunct therapy to physiotherapy or emergency room care .
These benefits are small and short lived
BACKGROUND CONTEXT In 2008 , the Bone and Joint Decade 2000 to 2010 Task Force on Neck Pain and Its Associated Disorders recommended patient education for the management of neck pain .
However , the effectiveness of education interventions has recently been challenged .
PURPOSE To up date the findings of the Bone and Joint Decade 2000 to 2010 Task Force on Neck Pain and Its Associated Disorders and evaluate the effectiveness of structured patient education for the management of patients with whiplash-associated disorders ( WAD ) or neck pain and associated disorders ( NAD ) .
OUTCOME MEASURES Self-rated recovery , functional recovery ( eg , disability , return to activities , work , or school ) , pain intensity , health-related quality of life , psychological outcomes such as depression or fear , or adverse effects .