Intensive spa and exercise therapy program for returning to work for low back pain patients: a randomized controlled
Christelle Nguyen1,2,3, Isabelle Boutron4,5,6, Christopher Rein4
1Sorbonne Paris Cité, Université Paris Descartes, Faculté de Médecine, 75006, Paris, France. christelle.nguyen2@aphp.fr.
Scientific Reports
|December 22, 2017
Summary
This study investigated if spa, exercise, and education therapy helps low back pain (LBP) patients return to work. While the spa group showed a higher return-to-work rate, the difference was not statistically significant due to limited study power.
Area of Science:
- Rehabilitation Medicine
- Occupational Health
- Pain Management
Background:
- Low back pain (LBP) is a common cause of work disability.
- Subacute and chronic LBP patients on sick leave face challenges returning to work.
- Effective interventions for LBP-related work absence are needed.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare a 5-day intensive inpatient spa, exercise, and education program with usual care.
- To assess the effectiveness of the intervention in improving return-to-work rates at 1 year.
- To evaluate secondary outcomes including pain, disability, quality of life, and sick leave duration.
Main Methods:
- A 12-month randomized controlled trial was conducted.
- Patients with subacute/chronic LBP on sick leave (4-24 weeks) were recruited.
- Intervention group received 5-day intensive inpatient spa, exercise, and education; control group received usual care.
Main Results:
- Recruitment fell short of projections, with only 88 patients enrolled (45 intervention, 43 control).
- At 1 year, 56.3% of the intervention group returned to work versus 41.9% in the usual care group (p=0.32).
- No significant differences were observed in secondary outcomes (pain, disability, quality of life, sick leave days).
Conclusions:
- The intensive inpatient program showed a trend towards improved return-to-work rates but did not reach statistical significance.
- The study was underpowered to detect significant differences in primary or secondary outcomes.
- Further research with adequate sample size is warranted to confirm the efficacy of this multimodal LBP treatment approach.
