Identifying prognostic factors to determine the level of recovery in servicemembers with chronic low back pain: A prospective cohort study

OBJECTIVE: The main objective of this study was to identify general and military-related factors that are associated with the level of recovery in Dutch service members with chronic low back pain (CLBP) who followed a rehabilitation program. MATERIAL AND METHOD: One hundred five consecutive service members with CLBP were included in this study. The level of disability, was used to distinguish a recovered and non-recovered group. Level of pain and self-perceived recovery were used as secondary outcome measurements. Differences were evaluated within and between the groups using the Student's t-test Bivariate logistic regression analyses were used for identifying the prognostic factors related to various outcomes of recovery RESULTS: After following the rehabilitation program, 64.8% of the service members recovered from CLBP. The recovered group, demonstrated significant effect sizes in disability and in pain The non-recovered group showed on disability a non-significant effect and in pain a significant effect. The self-perceived recovery in the recovered group was 'much improved' and the non-recovered group 'slightly improved'. The results of the bivariate regression analyses showed no significant independent prognostic factors related to recovery. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, no significant independent prognostic factors could be identified that were associated to the various outcomes of recovery in service members with CLBP who followed a rehabilitation program.