Table 1.

RCTs of back schools in people with chronic back pain included in a systematic review.

Ref	Population	Interventions	Results
	40 people with back pain for greater than 6 months' duration	Maastricht back school (7 sessions of 2.5 hours plus refresher at 8 weeks) vwaiting list control	10 drop outs. No significant difference for most outcomes measured after the programme (e.g. pain on VAS: 28.9 with back school v 31.9 with control, P not reported in review)
	66 nurses who had been sick listed for back pain in previous 2 years	Back school (5 weeks in back clinic, 8 hours per day) plus individual physiotherapy programmes plus behaviour therapy vwaiting list control	Back school significantly reduced pain at 6 weeks and 6 months compared with waiting list control (data presented graphically; P not reported in review)
	239 people with continuous back pain for greater than 2 months duration or an acute or chronic episode of back pain	Back school based on Canadian Back Education Unit (four 1-hour sessions over 1 week) vspinal manipulation by chiropractor daily for 1 week, then twice weekly for 6 weeks vNSAID for 15-20 days; physiotherapy; light massage; electrical stimulation, and diathermy daily for 3 weeks vphysiotherapy; light massage; electrical stimulation, and diathermy daily for 3 weeks vplacebo gel twice daily for 2 weeks	Back school improved pain and disability compared with other interventions at 2 and 6 months (combined pain disability and spinal mobility score at 2 months: 4.6 with back school v 2.6 with spinal manipulation v 2.2 with NSAIDs v 4.2 with physiotherapy v 1.2 with placebo; 6 months: 8.9 with back school v 4.3 with manipulation v 4.0 with NSAIDs v 6.0 with physiotherapy v 2.0 with placebo; details of scoring system not reported in review; P not reported in review)
	142 hospital employees	Back school (4 sessions, 90 minutes each over 2 weeks with further session at 2 months) vcallisthenics (45-minute sessions twice weekly for 3 months) vwaiting list control	Callisthenics reduced duration of low back pain compared with back school and waiting list control at 1 year (7.3 months with back school v 4.5 months with callisthenics v 7.4 months with waiting list control; P not reported in review)
	92 people with and without leg pain	Swedish back school (3 sessions on anatomy, body mechanics, ergonomic counselling, and exercises vexercises alone	Back school reduced pain and improved function compared with exercises alone at 16 weeks (data presented graphically; P not reported in review)
	476 people with reduced physical capacity and sick leave in previous 2 years	Inpatient back school (3 weeks rehabilitation with modified Swedish back school, exercises, relaxation, heat, massage) voutpatient back school (15 sessions over 2 months with modified Swedish back school, exercises, relaxation, heat, massage) vwritten and oral advice on back exercises and ergonomics	Back school (inpatient and outpatient) significantly reduced pain and disability compared with no back school at 3 months, but no significant difference at 2.5 years (data presented graphically; P values not reported in review)
	204 women	Back school (six 60-minute education and exercise sessions over 3 weeks with refresher sessions at 6 months) vwritten information about back school	Back school significantly reduced pain and disability compared with written information at 6 months, but no significant difference at 1 year (data presented graphically)
	90 people, mean duration of back pain 7.5 years	Maastricht back school, education, skills programme (7 sessions of 2.5 hours each plus refresher at 6 months) vwaiting list control	No significant difference between back school and control in pain and function at 2 and 6 months (pain on VAS, 2 months: 5.4 with back school v 5.2 with control; 6 months: 5.4 with back school v 4.6 with control, P not reported in review; data for function not reported in review)
	120 building industry workers	Back school (6 sessions of 90 minutes in 8 weeks, including education and exercises) vwaiting list control	Back school significantly reduced pain at 2 months and 6 months (2 months: 3.5 with back school v 4.5 with control; 6 months: 2.5 v 4.9; P values not reported; details of the scoring system not reported in the review)
	81 people with at least 1 episode of back pain in the last year, not on sick leave	Active back school (20 sessions of 1 hour each in 13 weeks, consisting of education and exercise) vno treatment	No significant difference at 5, 12, and 36 months in overall experienced pain. Back school significantly improved general low back function (baseline, 5, 12, 36 months: 4.7, 7.0, 6.7, 7.1 with back school v 4.1, 6.1, 5.2, 6.1 with no treatment; scale not reported, P values not reported) and significantly reduced mean days of sick leave at 12 and 36 months (12 months: 10.4 with back school v 37.8 with no treatment; 36 months: 14.4 v 63.9; P values not reported)

Ref, reference; VAS, visual analogue scale.