Consensus-Building on Patient Education for Chronic Non-Specific Low Back Pain: A Qualitative Study on Patient...

The scientific literature provides limited insights into patient education. A successful patient-therapist relationship requires active patient participation in back care and conditioning programs, which enhances exercise adherence. As an integral component of rehabilitation, patient education should be incorporated within a patient-centric, therapist-driven approach.

This study explores the perspectives of patients and physiotherapists on patient education in the management of chronic non-specific low back pain in Indian settings.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with thirty-three outpatients referred to physiotherapy and online forms were obtained from twenty clinical physiotherapists. The questions investigated the expectations of the patient and the education provided by the physiotherapist. Data saturation was obtained based upon the ceiling effect achieved during data synthesis which was tailed with thematic analysis to identify categories and themes.

Themes including "barriers to adherence," "perceived benefits of intervention," "emotional responses to treatment," "clinical challenges in implementation," "recommended modifications to intervention," and "patient-physiotherapist communication dynamics emerged and patients with low back pain considered high expectations from their physiotherapist in terms of education, whereas physiotherapists were providing explanation of condition and prognosis lacking in education. This study emphasised the perspectives of patients to those of physiotherapists. Physiotherapists are advantageously positioned to address the expectations of patients and provide a patient-centric education.

For a better outcome on exercise adherence, patient education as an integral part of a rehabilitation programme should be designed considering the expectations of patients, encouraging education of causes, providing materials for retention of exercises and improving the patient-doctor relationship in terms of better prognosis.