The effectiveness of social media and in-person interventions for low back pain conditions in nursing personnel (SMILE).
Seyedeh-Somayeh Kazemi, Sedigheh-Sadat Tavafian, Claire E Hiller and 2 others
PMID 33905171WHAT IT FOUND
Ergonomic and exercise education reduced pain and disability in nurses with work-related low back pain versus no education at 3 months.
Social-media delivery gave greater 6-month pain and disability benefit than in-person sessions, but reminders and content were not separated.
Key findings
01Pain scores on the 100 mm line fell versus control at 3 months in both education groups and at 6 months in the social-media group.
02Disability scores fell from 30.53 to 23.35 in the in-person group and from 31.87 to 19.38 in the social-media group by 6 months, while control scores were 31.05 and 31.17.
03When the two intervention groups were compared, social media was more successful than in-person education in decreasing pain and disability and improving several quality-of-life dimensions.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
Only female nurses with work-related low back pain were studied, so results may not apply to men or other patient groups. Hospitals, not individual nurses, were randomly allocated, which can affect group comparability. Outcomes were self-reported pain, disability and quality of life, and participants receiving different delivery formats may have known their group. The programme included education, exercises, reminders and a delivery platform, so the contribution of any single component cannot be separated.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflict of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the social-media advantage as proof that a social-media app alone treats low back pain. The participants were female nurses with work-related pain, and both intervention groups received the same ergonomic and exercise education content plus weekly reminders, so the effect cannot be separated from those components.