Great to see the growing evidence for supported exercise and self management, now including swimming.
Great to see our trial on swimming for chronic low back pain 'making waves' in the media...
Covered by The Conversation this morning!
Big thanks to Dr Deb Wareham for doing a stellar job on driving this important work!
bjsm.bmj.com/content/early/2…
@MarkHancockPT @CGMMaher @hjenk001
Mark Hancock retweeted
🏊♀️Is swimming effective for low back pain?🏊♂️
Our new trial published in @BJSM_BMJ
"The EduSwim trial demonstrated that an 8-
week swimming and education programme
was effective for improving short-term disability
compared with an education-alone control."
doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-202…
Mark Hancock retweeted
Good news story for people living with persistent back pain published in the washingtonpost.com on Cognitive Functional Therapy.
@MarkHancockPT @EvoolvePainCare
For more information check out: evoolvebackpain.academy
The story:
wapo.st/3IAgX3h
Mark Hancock retweeted
How does #CognitiveFunctionalTherapy work? Mediation analysis of RESTORE trial points to improved self-efficacy, catastrophising, fear, and pain as CFT mechanisms for improving #BackPain disability: tinyurl.com/mry9fk37 @PeteOSullivanPT @MarkHancockPT @kieranosull @jpcaneiro

ALT "Mechanisms of change in cognitive functional therapy: A longitudinal mediation analysis of the RESTORE clinical trial for disabling chronic low back pain" (Behaviour Research and Therapy, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2025.104853). 62% of CFT's large effect on pain intensity at 1 year is caused by earlier improvements in self-efficacy, catastrophising and fear. This is the first causal evidence of CFT mechanisms within a clinical trial. To explain the rest of CFT's large effects on pain and disability we need to explore other likely mechanisms, like improvements in movement behaviours.
Mark Hancock retweeted
Prof. @MarkHancockPT is interviewed on Health Report @RadioNational hosted by Dr Preeya Alexander and @NormanSwan about the 3 year results of the RESTORE study investigating #CognitiveFunctionalTherapy for #BackPain.
Link to podcast:
abc.net.au/listen/programs/h…
Reassurance is so important and so complex. You are doing great work on this important topic @annie_young4
People with higher perceived risk of pain persistence, previous imaging, males, and older age perceived less reassurance during low back pain consultations.
doi.org/10.1002/ejp.70098
@hjenk001 @adrian_traeger @french_simon @KongstedAlice @MarkHancockPT @TueSecher
Some people struggled to access the full paper. This should now be available. Any problems send me an email [email protected]
HOT OFF THE PRESS:
OPEN ACCESS 50 DAYS
CFT is the first treatment for chronic disabling low back pain with good evidence of large, long-term (>12 months) effects on disability.
@MarkHancockPT Peter Kent Anne Smith @jpcaneiro @RobSchutze @kieranosull @janhartvigsen and team
The figure below has results of the RESTORE trial 3-year follows up for disability and pain
@PeteOSullivanPT @CGMMaher @TheLancetRheum
Our 3-year follow up of the RESTORE trial shows sustained effects of CFT for chronic low back pain.
Paper out today in Lancet Rheumatology. Read here:thelancet.com/journals/lanrh…
@PeteOSullivanPT @CGMMaher @TheLancetRheum
Thanks for your great leadership of this important review Hazel. We need to focus on treatments that empower patients and have long term effects
@PeteOSullivanPT
Our latest review has just been published in Lancet Rheumatology!
Read our full paper (with 50 days free access) at lnkd.in/gMjgHKzJ
Thanks @MarkHancockPT , @LeticiaAmaralC, @CGMMaher, @Casper_Nim, @giovanni_ef, Ben Brown, Sasha Aspinall, Deborah Wareham, Junghyun Choi
Super proud of the great WalkBack team led by @PocoviTash Lovely recognition of the trial quality and importance.
We are thrilled that the #WalkBackTrial has received 2025 @ACTA_org Trial of the Year Runner Up.
Congratulations to @PocoviTash, @MarkHancockPT @DrChristineLin @french_simon @AnneTiedemann1 @CGMMaher & the team! 🎉
Read @TheLancet paper here: tinyurl.com/4jtc2826
Congratulations Pete, PK and team!
This is a wonderful resource and an incredible amount of work. I am excited to use it with my physio students next week.
It’s been a 2 year journey with a wonderful team to develop this educational platform.
This is In response to the RESTORE trial of Cognitive Functional Therapy for people with chronic low back pain published in the LANCET.
Let us know if you like it…
evoolvepaincare.academy/
Mark Hancock retweeted
Replying to @anzmusc @ithinkwellHugh
We are also very excited for our Free Public Lecture where Profs. Flavia Cicuttini, @HinmanRana, and @MarkHancockPT will discuss their recent MSK @TheLancet trials. Joined by Prof @anne__burke, Mr Gary Cantrell, and Dr. @samwhittle
Join us: tinyurl.com/4y4by3k2
Congratulations Leticia on developing such an important tool to measure knowledge and beliefs about back pain. @french_simon @LeticiaAmaralC
Thrilled to introduce the BacKS survey! Developed to evaluate contemporary evidence-based knowledge and beliefs about #BackPain, it’s a robust tool to enhance both clinical and research settings. Check out our study in @BJSM_BMJ
bjsm.bmj.com/content/early/2…
In this moderation paper we kept the moderators continuous unlike nearly all moderation or subgroup studies. This provides more informative results as per graphs Pete posted below. Big thanks to Prof Anne Smith for running these complex analyses.
HOT OFF THE PRESS: OPEN ACCESS
Patients with worse disability respond best to cognitive functional therapy for chronic low back pain: a pre-planned secondary analysis of a randomised trial
@MarkHancockPT and team 👋👋👋
sciencedirect.com/science/ar…
Moderation papers can be confusing. We found very large effects of CFT (6.1 RMDQ points) in the most impacted patients. This is an exciting result for people with with highly disabling back pain.
HOT OFF THE PRESS: OPEN ACCESS
Patients with worse disability respond best to cognitive functional therapy for chronic low back pain: a pre-planned secondary analysis of a randomised trial
@MarkHancockPT and team 👋👋👋
sciencedirect.com/science/ar…
Heading home after great IFOMPT conference. Feeling so privileged to travel the world sharing our work and spending time with wonderful kind people. @IFOMPT
Tash Pocovi will present the WalkBack study results today at IFOMPT @IFOMPT @PeteOSullivanPT
Mark Hancock retweeted
The STarTBack Tool, a commonly used tool, but not always clearly reported how this tool is implemented. @CGMMaher @MarkHancockPT @Caitlin_Jones_ bmjopen.bmj.com/content/14/6…
Thanks Chris, the global interest has been amazing. Hopefully this provides opportunities for large scale change in how we approach and fund back pain care.
Congrats @PocoviTash Huge Altmetric score for WalkBack.
Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of an individualised, progressive walking and education intervention for the p… pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3890…






















