The Swedish back school in chronic low back pain. Part II. Factors predicting the outcome.

The aim of the study was to analyse the factors predicting the outcome of the Swedish back school and spontaneous recovery in chronic low back pain. The predicting variables describing the treatment group (n = 95) and the control group (n = 93) at the initiation of study included sociodemographic factors, variables related to work, severity of low back pain, and a number of clinical measurements and evaluations. The Oswestry Low Back Pain Disability Questionnaire was used for judging recovery factors. It was found that the best predictor for the outcome of the treatment and for spontaneous recovery was work satisfaction.