NICE advises that patients with low back pain should be helped to understand the nature of low back pain, and encouraged to continue with normal activities. One way is to refer to the Make Every Contact Count (MECC) advice for back pain.15,16

MECC is not intended for clinical assessment or diagnosis for people presenting with back pain, or to offer clinical advice for serious back pain. However, it can help raise awareness about risks for developing back pain, and signpost to further information and support.

To assist and motivate patients to recover from back pain, its website (www.meccback.co.uk) highlights three core pieces of advice healthcare professionals should offer to patients with back pain. In essence, “Motion is lotion; movement is medicine”:16

1.     Keep active: “bed rest is bad for backs” so patients should make a gradual return to general activity and exercise to help manage recovery.

2.     Pain doesn’t usually equal harm: while people may fear that the level of pain is indicative of back damage, and that exercise would cause further damage, keeping active is the best option, and to keep active once the back pain has gone.

3.     If taking analgesics, it is better to do so on a regular basis rather than now and again, helping the person to continue with day-to-day activities more comfortably.