Research Summary by Louis Ellery
For chronic low back pain management
Cognitive Functional Therapy (CFT) — which emphasises movement retraining, graduated exposure, and reduced protective guarding — achieved superior improvements in pain, disability, mood, and movement confidence compared to standard exercise.
Improvements were sustained at 12-month follow-up, indicating durable, long-term behavioural change rather than temporary relief.
The research highlighted that changing someone's relationship with movement, posture, and breath has more impact than focusing on sets, reps, or isolated strengthening. Pain reduction directly correlated with changes in movement patterns.
Movement retraining produces superior long-term outcomes. Pain is significantly influenced by movement confidence and graduated exposure. Whole-body retraining approaches align with best-practice chronic pain management.
Published in British Journal of Sports Medicine 54(13):782. Available at bjsm.bmj.com.
Apply the Research
Book a 90-minute posture and gait assessment to understand how these principles relate to your specific movement patterns.