[A back rehabilitation school for patients with vertebral fractures]

This paper describes the conception and the evaluation of a back school for patients with vertebral fractures. The school curriculum includes detailed information for the patient as well as physiotherapy, training in the proper way of performing the ordinary activities of the everyday-life, systematic self observation and relaxation training. From October 1987 until July 1989, 136 patients with vertebral fractures have completed the back school program. The effectiveness of the program was evaluated by a knowledge test and by an obstacle course. Both in the pre-post-confrontation as well as in the experimental group-control group comparison we obtained significant differences in the goals. In conclusion, the present results imply that the described back school for patients with vertebral fractures is an efficient addition to conventional programs with physiotherapy only.