A Short Evidence‐Based, Belief‐Focused Educational Video Improves Back Pain Beliefs but Not Lifting Behaviour in Healthy Office Workers: An Exploratory Randomised Controlled Trial
Anja Müller‐Schmid, Christian Bangerter, Panka Nagy, Fabian Pfeiffer, Marina Bruderer‐Hofstetter, Guillaume Christe, Stefan SchmidABSTRACT
Background
Unhelpful beliefs about low back pain are associated with altered movement behaviour during lifting. Brief educational videos may offer a scalable approach to modify such beliefs, but their impact on movement behaviour remains unclear.
Objective
To investigate whether a short educational video can reduce unhelpful back pain beliefs and promote a more stoop‐like lifting behaviour in healthy adults.
Methods
In this assessor‐blind randomised controlled trial, 50 healthy office workers were assigned to an experimental group (educational video on back pain beliefs and management) or a control group (anatomy video). Outcomes were measured before and immediately after the intervention and included the 10‐item Back Pain Attitudes Questionnaire (Back‐PAQ10), lumbar curvature range of motion (RoM), and lifting strategy (Stoop‐Squat Index) during lifting and lowering of 5 and 15 kg boxes. Linear mixed‐effects models evaluated Group, Time, and interaction effects.
Results
Back‐PAQ10 scores showed a larger reduction in the intervention group (Δ = 6.12, p < 0.001) than the control group (Δ = 0.88, p = 0.002), with a significant Group × Time interaction ( p < 0.001). Lumbar curvature RoM decreased ( p < 0.001), but no Group × Time interaction occurred ( p = 0.604). The Stoop‐Squat Index showed a main effect for Time ( p = 0.005), but no Group × Time interaction ( p = 0.935).
Conclusion
A brief educational video effectively improved back pain beliefs but did not alter lifting behaviour or spinal motion. This dissociation between cognitive and motor responses suggests that changing movement patterns may require more intensive or interactive interventions.