It's estimated around 80% of adults will experience lower back pain during their lives, with its prevalence only increasing with age. For around a quarter of people, it turns into a frustrating chronic condition, lasting more than three months and can persist for years.

A new treatment known as cognitive functional therapy (CFT) was put to work in a randomized controlled clinical trial of nearly 500 chronic back pain sufferers across 20 physiotherapy practices. The findings of the trial revealed that those receiving CFT – which involved seven individual sessions with specially trained clinicians over 12 weeks, and a booster visit six months later – reported greatly improved movement and pain levels, which continued long after therapy.

CFT, developed by professor Peter O'Sullivan from Perth's Curtin School of Allied Health, Australia, takes a physical and psychological approach, arming chronic pain suffers with the tools to confidently manage their condition and the skills to move in ways that reduces disibility.