The focus for this year’s World PT Day on 8 September is low back pain (LBP) and the role of physiotherapy in its management and prevention.
The campaign is focused around the following key messages.
- LBP is the leading cause of disability globally. 619 million people experienced LBP in 2020, that’s 1 in 13 people.
- LBP can be experienced at any age, and almost everyone will experience it at some time in their lives. However, it only becomes chronic (lasting more than 3 months) for a minority.
- 90% of LBP is non-specific, this means there is no one specific structure (eg, joint, muscle, ligament, disc) that can be found to cause it, and it is not due to a serious or specific underlying disease.
- Among health conditions that may benefit from rehabilitation, LBP is the condition that the greatest number of people could benefit from.
- Physiotherapists provide expert advice, guidance and treatment for LBP. They will help to improve your overall health and wellbeing, while reducing your chances of future episodes.
- In all types and at all stages of LBP, rehabilitation is essential to reassure people and help you make sense of your pain, help support recovery, return to activities you enjoy and maintain independence in daily living.
- Non-surgical interventions are recommended to help people experiencing LBP. Physiotherapists are specialists in the care of LBP, and can offer tailored treatment, including:
- education programs that support knowledge and self-care strategies
- physiotherapist-supervised exercise programs
- physiotherapy interventions such as manual therapy
- Exercise has been shown to be the most helpful treatment for LBP. One type of exercise doesn’t appear to be better than any other – remaining active and doing it regularly is the most important. Your physiotherapist will help you find an exercise that’s right for you.
World PT Day toolkit
The World PT Day toolkit has a range of materials to share the campaign in your country/territory, these include:
- information sheets
- posters
- pop-up roller banner designs
- advocacy toolkit
- activities guide
- t-shirt design
- graphics to share on social media
The information sheets, posters and banners are currently available in English, and will shortly also be available in French and Spanish. Volunteer translators are working on versions of the materials in other languages, which will be uploaded to our website as they become available.
World Physiotherapy would like to express its sincere thanks to the following for their input and assistance in the production of the materials for World PT Day 2024: Kieran O’Sullivan, Adrien Mounier-Poulat, Basil Lafitte Houssat, Yan Duhourcau, and Saurab Sharma.
