A Better Life with Back Pain – Support for Dialogue and Self-Management of Back Pain

Behaviour-Oriented Treatment

Through a major interdisciplinary project in 2025, the Practice Department of Region of Southern Denmark, together with the Research Unit for Clinical Biomechanics at the University of Southern Denmark, sought to support a paradigm shift in back pain treatment. 

Moving away from a traditional focus on structural diagnosis and curative treatment, back pain treatment is expanded to include a behaviour-oriented approach. This allows healthcare professionals and individuals with back pain to collaboratively find meaningful ways to live with pain. 

The goal of the project was to improve the quality of life for individuals with back pain and prevent uncoordinated and ineffective care involving multiple contacts within various parts of the healthcare system. 

People with back pain should receive effective assistance in the primary care sector to address their condition and challenges. This entails that they understand their condition and the possible management options, as well as gain strategies to engage in activities that bring value and meaning to their lives.

From Research to a Behaviour-Oriented Approach

The professional content of the toolkit materials is based on research conducted at the University of Southern Denmark.
Health Innovation Centre of Southern Denmark played a key role in the project by translating knowledge from research and practical experience into a toolkit comprising visual, user-friendly, and action-oriented materials to support both clinicians and patients during consultations and in the patient's continued self-management. 

User Involvement

Building on research-based knowledge, users were involved in translating knowledge into practice. This included patient representatives, clinicians, researchers, practice consultants, and other experts on back pain.

Stine Poulsgaard, designer and innovation consultant at Health Innovation Centre of Southern Denmark, explains the importance of user involvement: 

User involvement in a process like this ensures that the materials we develop together are relevant and useful in a clinical context and that they meet the actual needs of citizens. Through fieldwork, interviews and observations, workshops, work meetings, and ongoing refinement, we included experts: patient representatives, chiropractors, physiotherapists, and researchers. They each contributed with their perspectives, knowledge, and experiences.

Toolkit Ready for Use

During the final workshop on May 27, 2025, at Health Innovation Centre of Southern Denmark, the users made their final contributions to the toolkit. The kit contains 12 materials designed to support dialogue and self-management. 

The toolkit is intended to help clarify what is valuable to the citizen and identify barriers and opportunities for supporting behaviour changes.
Alice Kongsted, professor at the Research Unit for Clinical Biomechanics, University of Southern Denmark, explains: 

The most effective interventions for back pain involve patients finding strategies to move and engage in activities they enjoy. I hope the new toolkit, with its action-oriented materials, will help determine what works best for each individual patient. As a next step, we aim to develop a training program to educate clinicians on how to use the toolkit and work with behaviour-oriented treatment.

Lisbeth Hartvigsen, healthcare consultant for back pain at the Practice Department, Region of Southern Denmark, adds: 

We hope the toolkit will help people with recurrent or chronic lower back pain to live fulfilling lives despite pain and loss of function. And that the toolkit enables citizens to better understand their condition, providing them with a sense of competence and autonomy, which together create the confidence needed to manage their lower back issues constructively.