With the number of people living with low back pain escalating sharply, researchers are turning to widely-accessible technology to reduce the impact of the disabling condition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The team from the University of Sydney and the Kolling Institute has launched a study measuring the effectiveness of a mobile health program which offers self-management strategies via text messages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Study lead Professor Manuela Ferreira said broader options for care are needed given the number of people who experience the condition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cLow back pain is the greatest cause of disability worldwide, impacting social, family and work activities,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn Australia, it affects one in six people and is the main reason Australians miss work and retire involuntarily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNew modelling conducted by our team estimates more than 800 million people globally will be living with low back pain by 2050, a 36 percent increase from 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPeople with low back pain need affordable interventions to help them manage their condition, and this health program provides practical, evidenced-based strategies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cText messaging is an easy, accessible and affordable intervention that can empower those with low back pain to better manage their own symptoms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt can be used to support people anywhere, at any time of the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cText messaging initiatives have been shown to help people with chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes, and we are working to determine if this approach can also be an effective tool for those with chronic back pain.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
The study, named TEXT4myBACK, is assessing two formats of text message interventions, which differ in frequency and content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Researchers will then measure whether the text messages are improving function and back pain symptoms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2226,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12,16,15],"tags":[42],"research-group-tax":[],"primary-research-area":[],"class_list":["post-2225","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-musculoskeletal-research","category-new-treatment","category-research-excellence","tag-musculoskeletal"],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/news_demo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/thumb_Blog_Professor-Manuela-Ferreira_w550_h380_fcrop.webp",550,380,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/news_demo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/thumb_Blog_Professor-Manuela-Ferreira_w550_h380_fcrop-150x150.webp",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/news_demo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/thumb_Blog_Professor-Manuela-Ferreira_w550_h380_fcrop-300x207.webp",300,207,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/news_demo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/thumb_Blog_Professor-Manuela-Ferreira_w550_h380_fcrop.webp",550,380,false],"large":["https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/news_demo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/thumb_Blog_Professor-Manuela-Ferreira_w550_h380_fcrop.webp",550,380,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/news_demo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/thumb_Blog_Professor-Manuela-Ferreira_w550_h380_fcrop.webp",550,380,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/news_demo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/thumb_Blog_Professor-Manuela-Ferreira_w550_h380_fcrop.webp",550,380,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"ict-wordpress-support@sydney.edu.au","author_link":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/news_demo\/author\/ict-wordpress-supportsydney-edu-au\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"With the number of people living with low back pain escalating sharply, researchers are turning to widely-accessible technology to reduce the impact of the disabling condition. The team from the University of Sydney and the Kolling Institute has launched a study measuring the effectiveness of a mobile health program which offers self-management strategies via text…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/news_demo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/2225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/news_demo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/news_demo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/news_demo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/news_demo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/2225\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5222,"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/news_demo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/2225\/revisions\/5222"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/news_demo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/news_demo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/news_demo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/news_demo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2225"},{"taxonomy":"research-group-tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/news_demo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research-group-tax?post=2225"},{"taxonomy":"primary-research-area","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/news_demo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/primary-research-area?post=2225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}