Sufferers overestimate their discomfort, study reveals

Back pain may be psychological, new research suggests.

People over estimate their lower back discomfort, a study found. 

Lead author Dr Tasha Stanton from the University of South Australia, said: ‘People with chronic back pain and stiffness overestimated how much force was being applied to their backs.  

‘This suggests that feelings of stiffness are a protective response, likely to avoid movement.’

Lower back pain is a leading cause of global disability that affects around 9.4 per cent of the population. It becomes chronic in approximately 20 per cent of sufferers.

Back pain may be psychological, new research reveals (stock image)

SUFFERING FROM BACK PAIN? GO FOR A WALK: EXERCISE REDUCES CHRONIC LOWER DISCOMFORT BY UP TO 16% 

Being highly active reduces the risk of chronic lower back pain by 16 per cent, research revealed in July.

Regular moderate activity lowers the risk by 14 per cent, a study review found.

Yet, exercise has no impact on short-term back pain, or that which causes hospitalisation or disability, the research adds.

Dr Joel Press, physiatrist-in-chief at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, who was not involved in the study, said: ‘We were meant to move. We were not meant to be stagnant in any way.

‘Generally lower impact, walking type things are probably the starting point. 

‘Swimming is another low impact activity that puts less load on your back’. 

How the study was carried out  

The researchers analysed 15 people with chronic lower back pain who reported feelings of stiffness.

The study’s participants rated their stiffness from ‘not stiff at all’ to the ‘most stiff imaginable’.  

These participants were compared against 15 volunteers without such complaints.

The researchers carried out three experiments. The first applied pressure to the spine to determine its stiffness.

In the second experiment, the participants received a force that they were asked to score.

The third experiment assessed whether adding sounds to the perception of pressure changed the participants’ stiffness. 

‘People with chronic back pain and stiffness overestimate force applied to their backs’

Dr Stanton said: ‘People with chronic back pain and stiffness overestimated how much force was being applied to their backs. 

‘How much they overestimated this force related to how stiff their backs felt – the stiffer [it] felt, the more they overestimated force. 

‘This suggests that feelings of stiffness are a protective response, likely to avoid movement.

‘In theory, people who feel back stiffness should have a stiffer spine than those who do not. 

‘We found this was not the case in reality. Instead, we found that that the amount they protected their back was a better predictor of how stiff their back felt.’

Referring to the third experiment, Dr Stanton added: ‘[We] found that these feelings could be modulated using different sounds. The feeling of stiffness was worse with creaky door sounds and less with gentle whooshing sounds. 

‘The brain uses information from numerous different sources including sound, touch, and vision, to create feelings such as stiffness.

‘If we can manipulate those sources of information, we then potentially have the ability to manipulate feelings of stiffness. This opens the door for new treatment possibilities, which is incredibly exciting.’ 

The findings were published in the journal Scientific Reports. 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk