Just one course of psychotherapy can ease back pain for years, study finds
The research, published in The Lancet Rheumatology, shows that cognitive functional therapy, CFT, can ease low back pain for at least three years.
Low back pain is a chronic condition and one of the leading causes of disability worldwide, marked by unpredictable recurrences and pain flare-ups.
Although it affects over 600 million people worldwide, and is projected to impact around 840 million by 2050, most treatments only yield small to moderate improvement.
CFT is currently the first line of treatment for chronic low back pain but how effective and lasting its benefits are isn't well understood.
CFT is an individualised approach that seeks to alter a patient's relationship with their chronic pain and works by targeting unhelpful cognitions, emotions, and behaviours that contribute to pain and disability.
The latest study shows that CFT effectively improves physical activity participation among those with low back pain for up to three years.
In the study, scientists assessed data from about 500 patients with chronic low back pain in Australia who were randomly assigned to receive eight treatment sessions of usual care, CFT, or CFT plus biofeedback, a technique that uses sensors to measure body functions such as heart rate and enable the patient to modify them.
Usual care was any treatment recommended to patients by healthcare providers, including painkillers, physical therapy or massage.
The study showed that patients who received CFT and CFT plus biofeedback saw improvements in their physical activity participation over usual care.
The difference between those receiving CFT only and CFT plus biofeedback at three years was found to be small and not significant.
People with CFT could change their mindset about pain and self-manage through movement patterns and lifestyle improvements, the study found.
Based on the findings, researchers say CFT has long-term benefits on physical activity for those with low back pain, providing an opportunity to ease discomfort if the intervention can be widely implemented.
'CFT can produce large and sustained improvements for people with chronic disabling low back pain at considerably lower societal cost than that of usual care,' the study noted.
Researchers call for scaling up of clinician training for greater accessibility and widespread implementation of CFT.
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The Sun
8 minutes ago
- The Sun
Future humans ‘will be hairless & lose FOUR other body parts' thanks to modern lifestyles
SCIENTISTS warn that future humans may go hairless and even lose four other body parts due to the way we live today. Experts say that changes in diet, technology, and environment could drive these drastic evolutionary shifts over thousands of years. 7 7 Traits that were once essential for survival, like body hair or certain organs, may become redundant, gradually disappearing from the human body. Researchers are particularly focused on how modern comforts, reduced physical activity, and medical advances could reshape our anatomy in ways previously only seen in evolutionary theory. Yes — the human body is an incredible machine, vital for life, but some features that were once essential now serve little to no purpose. Here are five body parts that are slowly disappearing. Hair Body hair once served vital functions like warmth and protection. But today, it's often removed for aesthetic reasons. Apart from eyelashes and eyebrows, hair removal has become a standard grooming practice, especially among women. A study found that over 90% of women in the UK typically remove their armpit and leg hair, with many also removing substantial portions of their pubic hair. This trend is largely driven by societal norms and beauty standards. As a result, hair has become a lot finer and sparser. Breakthrough as robots with self-healing skin are step closer as boffins could bind engineered tissue to the machines Now largely cosmetic and slowly fading, scientists predict that humans may continue to lose body hair. Modern clothing, heated homes, and technological comforts also mean natural insulation is no longer vital. So, body hair may become even more finer, sparser or even disappear entirely. Wisdom teeth 7 Wisdom teeth, or third molars, originally helped our ancestors grind down tough, raw foods like roots, nuts, and uncooked meat. But modern cooking and softer diets mean most of us no longer need them. In the UK, studies show that around 20% of adults have had at least one wisdom tooth removed, while diets rich in processed and cooked foods have made these extra molars largely redundant. About 1 in 5 people never develop all four wisdom teeth, showing how they are already becoming less common. Our jaws have shrunk over generations, and with softer modern diets, these third molars often cause crowding or pain. Dental problems caused by these teeth — such as overcrowding, infections, or impaction — are a major reason for removal, with the NHS performing tens of thousands of extractions every year. This could mean future generations may lose wisdom teeth altogether, as evolution adapts to our easier-to-chew meals. Over time, evolution may render wisdom teeth completely unnecessary, meaning future humans could be born without them entirely. Tailbone (coccyx) 7 The tailbone, or coccyx, is a leftover from our primate tails and originally helped with balance and supporting a tail. Today, it serves little purpose, though it still supports some pelvic muscles. Modern lifestyles — with flat surfaces, chairs, and less need for climbing or gripping — mean the coccyx is largely redundant. Coccyx injuries are fairly common in the UK, with around 1 in 50 people experiencing tailbone pain at some point, highlighting its vulnerability despite its reduced evolutionary role. Coccyx pain (coccydynia) affects about 2% of the UK population, often from falls, prolonged sitting, or childbirth. Tailbone fractures are relatively rare but account for around 1–5% of all fractures of the spine. As its original role for balance is no longer needed, the coccyx is used more as a historical marker. Over the years, natural selection could favour smaller or even absent tailbones. Some evolutionary studies suggest the coccyx has shrunk in humans compared with our primate relatives. Scientists suggest it may gradually shrink or disappear in future humans. Appendix Historically, our ancestors relied on the appendix to digest cellulose-rich plants. The appendix may have been a handy tool for digesting tough, fibrous material, but today, it's mostly redundant. Modern cooked and processed diets mean we no longer need this little organ to break down food. However, some research suggests it may play a minor role in immune function, housing beneficial gut bacteria. Despite its reduced purpose, appendicitis still affects around 7,000 people in the UK each year, making the appendix one of the most commonly removed organs. That's about 1 in 20 people who will experience appendicitis at some point in their lives. Essentially, it's a vestige of our evolutionary past — useful for our ancestors, but largely obsolete for humans living in the modern world. The appendix is usually around 8–10cm long, but can vary in size. Over thousands of years, natural selection may favour individuals with smaller or absent appendices, gradually phasing it out of the human body — leaving it as just another vestigial remnant of our evolutionary past. As humans continue to eat softer, cooked, and processed foods, the organ's original role in digesting tough plant fibers becomes unnecessary. In the future, scientists predict the appendix could disappear entirely. Ear muscles 7 Ear muscles were once used to swivel our ears toward sounds, just like cats and dogs do. Our ancestors likely used these ear muscles to pivot their ears toward sounds, helping them detect predators, prey, or other dangers in their environment. In a world without modern technology or protective housing, being able to quickly pick up noises from different directions would have been a useful survival tool — something we no longer need today. Today, most people's ear muscles are inactive, serving little to no practical purpose. For the rare few who can still twitch them, it's more of a quirky party trick than a survival skill. Studies suggest that only around 10–20% of people can voluntarily move their ears, with the ability being more common in men than women. This tiny fraction highlights just how redundant these muscles have become, reduced to little more than a novelty rather than a functional tool for detecting sounds. Scientists predict that, over thousands of years, these ear muscles may shrink or disappear entirely. As humans rely more on technology — like headphones, alarms, and visual cues — rather than acute hearing for survival, natural selection may phase out this once-useful feature, leaving future generations with fully immobile ears. A timeline of life on Earth Here's a brief history of life on our planet 4.6billion years ago – the origin of Earth 3.8billion years ago – first life appears on Earth 2.1billion years ago – lifeforms made up of multiple cells evolve 1.5billion years ago – eukaryotes, which are cells that contain a nucleus inside of their membranes, emerge 550million years ago – first arthropods evolve 530million years ago – first fish appear 470million years ago – first land plants appear 380million years ago – forests emerge on Earth 370million years ago – first amphibians emerge from the water onto land 320million years ago – earliest reptiles evolve 230million years ago – dinosaurs evolve 200million years ago – mammals appear 150million years ago – earliest birds evolve 130million years ago – first flowering plants 100million years ago – earliest bees 55million years ago – hares and rabbits appear 30million years ago – first cats evolve 20million years ago – great apes evolve 7million years ago –first human ancestors appear 2million years ago – Homo erectus appears 300,000 years ago – Homo sapiens evolves 50,000 years ago – Eurasia and Oceania colonised 40,000 years ago – Neandethal extinction
Reuters
2 hours ago
- Reuters
Biomechanics study shows how T. rex and other dinosaurs fed on prey
WASHINGTON, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Tyrannosaurus subdued prey with raw power, using bone-crushing bite force. But other meat-eating dinosaurs that rivaled T. rex in size used different approaches. Giganotosaurus relied more on slashing and ripping flesh. And the long and narrow snout of Spinosaurus was well-adapted for catching fish. Researchers have documented the feeding biomechanics of meat-eating dinosaurs in a comprehensive analysis of the skull design and bite force of 17 species that prowled the landscape at various times from the dawn to the twilight of the age of dinosaurs. The study found that Tyrannosaurus possessed by far the highest estimated bite force, with a heavily reinforced skull and massive jaw muscles. But it showed that other dinosaur predators evolved successful approaches to bringing down prey even without matching the T. rex chomp. "We found that large predatory dinosaurs didn't all evolve the same kind of skull to deal with the challenges of feeding at massive size," said vertebrate paleontologist Andre Rowe of the University of Bristol in England, lead author of the study published this month in the journal Current Biology, opens new tab. "Some, like T. rex, reinforced the skull to tolerate extremely high bite forces and the associated skull stresses. Others, like Allosaurus or Spinosaurus, went with lighter or possibly flexible builds that spread out stress in different ways. There's no single 'correct' way to be a giant meat-eater, and that's the point," Rowe added. The study focused on species within the group, or clade, called theropods that includes the meat-eating dinosaurs. They ran from Herrerasaurus, which lived in Argentina about 230 million years ago and is one of the earliest-known dinosaurs, all the way to T. rex, which was present in western North America when an asteroid struck Earth 66 million years ago and ended the age of dinosaurs. The researchers used three-dimensional models of the skulls of the 17 species, including two different specimens of Tyrannosaurus, and applied a method for simulating how structures respond to physical stress. They estimated muscle forces using digital muscle reconstructions based on living relatives of the dinosaurs - birds and crocodiles - then applied those forces to the skull models to simulate bites. "Our focus wasn't raw bite force. We were testing how the skulls distributed that force under load, and how these distributions varied by each lineage of carnivores," Rowe said. The early theropods examined in the study such as Herrerasaurus, which lived during the middle of the Triassic Period, and Dilophosaurus, which lived early in the Jurassic Period, exhibited much lower stress resistance than their later counterparts. They were lightly built dinosaurs and not well adapted to high bite forces, Rowe said. The increase in bite force and skull strength unfolded gradually over time, reaching its apex with Tyrannosaurus and its close relatives in a lineage called tyrannosaurs such as Daspletosaurus and Albertosaurus, which like T. rex appeared late in the Cretaceous Period. "In tyrannosaurs, there's a big jump in skull strength and bite mechanics, coinciding with deeper skulls, more robust bone architecture and changes in jaw muscle attachment. So the ramp-up wasn't immediate. It evolved over time and in certain lineages more than others," Rowe said. Tyrannosaurus, Giganotosaurus and Spinosaurus were three of the largest theropods, but their skulls were quite different. Perhaps the largest-known Tyrannosaurus is a specimen named Sue at the Field Museum in Chicago, at 40-1/2 feet (12.3 meters) long. Giganotosaurus and Spinosaurus rivaled T. rex in size. Giganotosaurus lived in Argentina in the middle of the Cretaceous, while Spinosaurus inhabited North Africa at around the same time, both predating Tyrannosaurus by roughly 30 million years. "Giganotosaurus was large, but its skull wasn't built for the same kind of high-force feeding as T. rex. Spinosaurus had a long, narrow snout, which is consistent with a diet focused on fishing, though we have fossilized evidence that it ate other animals, such as pterosaurs," Rowe said, referring to the flying reptiles that were cousins of the dinosaurs. One of the key takeaway messages, Rowe said, is that giant body size did not funnel all theropods toward the same design. Stronger bite force was one strategy, but not the only one, Rowe added. "Some animals win with raw power, others by striking quickly or repeatedly. What we're seeing here is a spectrum of ecological adaptations. These animals weren't all trying to be T. rex clones. They were solving the same problem in different ways," Rowe added. "That kind of evolutionary flexibility," Rowe added, "probably helped them dominate ecosystems for so long."
Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Dying patients bundled into ambulances and transferred in their final hours after 'cruel' managers shut hospice without warning
Dying patients were bundled into emergency ambulances and moved in their final hours after managers shut down a hospice without warning. Nurses on duty at the Sue Ryder Wheatfields Hospice, in Leeds, were left in tears after being told to ring relatives of end-of-life patients with the distressing news that their loved ones were being immediately transferred. One nurse told the Mail she was disgusted by hospice management, who she claims sat in their offices eating an Indian takeaway while nurses scrambled to hand over their vulnerable patients to paramedics. In total, seven terminally ill residents were moved in emergency ambulances to alternative hospices across Yorkshire between 5pm and midnight on a Friday evening in August last year. Another patient was discharged home. One woman died within five hours of being moved, while another two patients had passed away within 48 hours. At least two families lodged formal complaints about their treatment in the aftermath. Recalling the distressing closure shift last summer, the female nurse told the Mail she knew nothing about the decision to shut until the angry son of a woman who was 'actively dying' started berating her about his mother's transfer. The nurse, who asked not to be named, said she had since sought treatment for depression because she felt guilty about the way several patients had been treated in their final hours. She tearfully explained: 'I was sitting at the bedside of a lady who I'd been nursing for a couple of weeks when her son came into the room and started saying, ''Call yourself a nurse, you're disgusting, how could you do this to my mum?'' 'He told me the hospice was closing immediately and his mum was being transferred in 10 minutes, he couldn't believe I didn't know anything about it. 'It was really upsetting, I was really taken aback I just didn't know what to say. 'Then one of the managers came down and confirmed it. She said it was because they didn't have enough staff, but that was not the case. We had a full compliment of doctors and nurses on that evening and over the weekend. I just started crying, it was so cruel. Within five minutes the first ambulance had arrived.' The short notice closure was the culmination of a 'chaotic' few months at the hospice, which staff alleged had become an 'unsafe and toxic' place to work because of the 'autocratic' behaviour of four of the most senior leaders – then interim service director, Sonia Clarke, head of clinical services, Victoria Hogg, head of operations, Quentin Krang, and chief nursing officer, Jane Turner. Two months later, in October last year, around 24 nurses and healthcare assistants lodged a formal grievance, via the Royal College of Nursing, with bosses at Sue Ryder, the national charity which runs the hospice with 30 per cent funding from the NHS. The hospice re-opened a month later but at least 20 staff have since left, with one lodging legal action, in the form of an employment tribunal, against the organisation. The nurses' grievance claimed the 'distressing' decision to close the unit at the 11th hour was deliberately concealed from them by managers, who then 'spun' an 'inaccurate narrative' to families of patients and local news outlets that they had no choice to do so because of staffing shortages. In reality, both medical and nursing staff levels were sufficient and instead nurses say the decision was made after whistleblowing allegations about the hospice's poor leadership had been lodged with the charity. Tracey Taylor Huckfield, the chief people and culture officer at Sue Ryder, who responded to the grievance, which was independently investigated, admitted the closure was 'distressing' because of a lack of communication with staff and that some did hear about it from relatives of a patient. She accepted the reasons for the closure communicated to families and the media 'were not the complete facts' and that 'whistleblowing concerns' had previously been raised. But she said that 'given the sensitivity and confidentiality of some matters' managers had 'no choice' but to be economical with the truth. Ms Taylor Huckfield accepted there was a lack of trust between managers and nurses, whose well-being had been neglected, and the senior leadership team did order a takeaway on the night the hospice closed because they were 'flagging.' However, she claimed all staff had been told to go and 'help themselves' if they wanted to eat. She dismissed the majority of the nurses' concerns, saying 'while this collective grievance highlights there have been issues and problems in communication, it is not considered that a serious breach of the organisation's values and behaviours has taken place.' However, nursing staff, who are being supported by whistleblowing charity Protect, were unconvinced and branded the investigation a 'whitewash.' They also lodged complaints about Sue Ryder to the Charity Commission, local Labour MP Alex Sobel, West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board and the Care Quality Commission, who carried out an emergency inspection in March. The Mail understands the CQC are preparing to publish their report, which staff expect to be critical of hospice management, in the coming days. One senior nurse, who has worked in the profession for almost four decades, including 10 years at the hospice, told the Mail: 'We feel let down. We've had to fight alone to get justice for the patients, their families and the people of Leeds who rely on these services. 'Wheatfields Hospice has been all but destroyed, the majority of the experienced nurses have resigned and it lurches from one crisis to the next. The CQC have already told us that, if it were not for our tenacity, this deplorable action by Sue Ryder would have gone unnoticed by regulators. 'It's really upsetting to watch relatives whose loved ones have died or are being cared for by the hospice running marathons, climbing mountains and raising money for this charity, when the reality is large amounts of their hard-fundraised money is going on lawyers' fees as they continue to try to discredit and get rid of staff who tried to blow the whistle. We have repeatedly complained to the national leadership of Sue Ryder, who have failed us. The charity is an absolute disgrace.' James Sanderson, chief executive of Sue Ryder, told the Mail the 'difficult decision' to close Wheatfields Hospice was made for 'patient safety reasons.' He claimed that the grievance, although not upheld, highlighted poor communication between senior leaders and nursing staff which has since been improved by the installation of a new management team. 'The decision (to close) was not taken lightly as we were acutely aware of the impact this would have on our patients, but we were left with no other option,' he said. 'Every healthcare setting must adhere to strict, safe staffing levels and we were unable to meet these due to sickness, vacancies and an investigation into the behaviours and working practices of some employees. 'We received and responded to two complaints from families whose loved ones had to be moved from the hospice and apologised for the distress. 'We stand by our decision to temporarily close. We will not compromise on patient safety.' A spokesman for the West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board said they were 'aware' of last August's closure, adding that they were working closely with Sue Ryder and were involved in 'decisions' about patient care to ensure it was of the highest quality. The CQC said they 'will publish our findings once our standard factual accuracy and quality assurance processes are complete.'
