Backs

Synopsis

Dr Mark Porter meets patients on the Active Back Programme in Stanmore, North London.

For 15 years the Active Back Programme at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital has been helping people with long term back pain learn to live with their condition and be physically active.

Patients who attend the programme have had many medical interventions that have failed to make much of an impact on their back pain. The approach at RNOH is different - the programme doesn't aim to remove the pain, but it helps people get on with their lives and be able to do everyday activities such as shopping and exercise.

Physiotherapists, psychologists and occupational therapists give advice on how to make changes around the home so that people with back pain can do tasks in the kitchen and in the garden. Mark meets the patients on the programme who are playing table tennis for the first time, and who are discovering that rearranging pillows can help them get a good night's sleep.