[Patient education for acute low back pain : Contents of pain education in patients with acute non-specific low back pain - a scoping review]

OBJECTIVE

The objective of the review is to map the content of intervention education in people with acute nonspecific lumbar low back pain (LBP) to make it available in a synopsis.

BACKGROUND

In the care of people with acute non-specific LBP, education is recommended as an elementary treatment component. However, the proposed content is proving to be heterogenic and the question arises as to how education should be designed in the future.

METHOD

A systematic literature search and content analysis of studies with content on pain education was conducted as part of a scoping review. Inclusion criteria were: provision of relevant information on the content of pain education, patients with acute nonspecific low back pain, 18 years or older, publication in English or German. The search was conducted in the Medline, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, and PEDro databases and supplemented by a hand search. The search was completed in February 2021.

RESULTS

A total of 4239 hits were identified, of which 90 studies were included. A wide range of content was found and clustered into ten categories. The most frequent statements were in the categories "recommendations for dealing with LRS," "education, reassuring aspects, and relieving basic messages," and "information and recommendations about medications."

CONCLUSION

The teaching of pathoanatomical information can potentially trigger or increase anxiety and worry, whereas information on neurophysiological mechanisms of pain development and processing is more likely to have an anxiety-reducing effect. The results can contribute to the design of the intervention in different settings.