E-mail discussion group helps back pain patients

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E-mail discussion group helps back pain patients

By Mulvihill

NEW YORK, Apr 10 (Reuters Health) - People suffering from back pain may

get relief by participating in an e-mail discussion group that is

moderated by healthcare professionals, study findings suggest.

Chronic recurrent back pain is a very common medical condition and is

second only to respiratory tract infections as a symptomatic condition

for which people see a doctor. According to Dr. Kate R. Lorig of

Stanford University in California and colleagues, previous research has

found that educational interventions may reduce back pain symptoms in

some patients.

Lorig's team investigated whether or not participating in a moderated

e-mail discussion group would improve the quality of life in patients

with back pain. The study results are published in the April 8th issue

of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

In the study, 190 men and women with back pain participated in the

discussion group for one year. Patients received e-mails from other

members or the moderators: a physician, a physical therapist and a

psychologist. The experts answered general questions and commented on

the discussion. They did not give specific medical advice. The patients

also received an educational videotape and a book about back pain.

The e-mail group was compared with 231 men and women who also had back

pain but did not participate in an e-mail discussion group. Instead,

this group received a subscription to a non-health-related magazine of

their choice.

After one year, those in the e-mail discussion group " demonstrated

significant improvements in all of the primary health status variables "

compared with patients in the other group, the authors report.

Specifically, patients in the e-mail discussion group had improvements

in pain and disability, their back pain interfered less with their

lives, and they spent less time worrying or being frustrated about their

condition, the investigators found.

" People participating in an e-mail discussion group with other patients

and with health professionals have less pain and disability than people

who did not participate in the group, " Lorig told Reuters Health in an

interview.

" Thus, it may be that e-mail support groups, at least for some people,

can be beneficial, " she added.

Lorig noted that she and her team could not pinpoint exactly why

patients fared better in the e-mail support group.

" The bottom line is that after looking at many, many different things,

we could not come up with anything that predicted success, " she said.

" This does not mean that the effects were random, merely that different

people took different things away from the intervention. "

What does seem apparent, according to Lorig, is that people with back

pain or any other chronic condition can benefit from sharing experiences

with each other and being in contact with a well-informed health

professional.

However, Lorig cautions that such discussions must be moderated.

" We had very few rules for our group--the number one being that people

had to be nice to each other, " she said. " This was strongly enforced,

especially at the beginning.

" One problem with many Internet groups is that people can be very nasty.

We wanted to, and achieved, a safe place where people hold discussions. "

SOURCE: Archives of Internal Medicine 2002;162:792-796.