Table 3.
Use of resources related to interventions for persistent low back pain in 579 patients. Values are mean (SD) numbers of resource items unless stated otherwise
| Intervention | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Without exercise | With exercise | ||||||||
| Normal care | Massage | Alexander technique (6 lessons) | Alexander technique (24 lessons) | Normal care | Massage | Alexander technique (6 lessons) | Alexander technique (24 lessons) | ||
| NHS resource use | |||||||||
| Primary care contacts | 0.43 (0.71) | 0.67 (1.33) | 0.48 (0.94) | 0.44 (0.91) | 0.50 (0.99) | 0.32 (0.75) | 0.35 (0.83) | 0.59 (1.02) | |
| Outpatient appointments | 0.32 (0.89) | 0.27 (0.70) | 0.27 (0.73) | 0.15 (0.64) | 0.14 (0.48) | 0.19 (0.60) | 0.21 (0.65) | 0.25 (0.89) | |
| Inpatient nights | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0.47 (2.89) | 0.19 (1.65) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | |
| Prescriptions | 0.85 (1.64) | 0.77 (1.65) | 0.64 (1.17) | 1.07 (2.24) | 0.88 (1.56) | 0.60 (1.55) | 0.58 (1.26) | 0.68 (1.75) | |
| Sessions of Alexander technique or massage | N/A | 5.23 (1.72) | 5.23 (1.81) | 18.58 (8.71) | N/A | 5.18 (1.81) | 5.44 (1.54) | 18.76 (8.42) | |
| Exercise sessions | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 2.21 (1.42) | 2.53 (1.53) | 2.77 (1.39) | 2.51 (1.71) | |
| Societal resource use | |||||||||
| No (%) of patients having some time off work (n=496) | 16 (27.1) | 25 (35.2) | 21 (32.8) | 24 (36.9) | 12 (21.8) | 16 (25.0) | 18 (29.5) | 18 (31.6) | |
| No (%) of patients having time off other activities (n=496) | 41 (69.5) | 53 (74.6) | 40 (62.5) | 33 (50.8) | 34 (61.8) | 41 (64.1) | 35 (57.4) | 31 (54.4) | |
| Days off work (n=295) | 6.59 (18.7) | 10.40 (25.4) | 5.32 (17.8) | 1.85 (4.3) | 1.02 (2.7) | 3.25 (7.2) | 1.97 (6.7) | 4.58 (19.3) | |
| Hours informal care (n=285) | 27.50 (54.6) | 45.75 (75.0) | 20.58 (47.8) | 4.44 (8.3) | 17.79 (43.7) | 28.49 (78.1) | 30.06 (73.5) | 44.28 (170.7) | |