An NHMRC-backed website – MyBackPain.org.au – has been launched to help people with lower back pain find trustworthy and accurate information to manage their condition and avoid ineffective and harmful tests and treatments.

In a development led by University of Queensland researchers, the site is designed to help people learn about their condition and how to manage it with a menu of evidence-based information, FAQs and resources such as videos featuring real patient stories.

The aim is to provide tailored, trustworthy information not readily found elsewhere, and to counter misplaced beliefs about back pain such as the roles of rest and paracetamol.

“There are treatments that do work, and the website provides guidance about which have the best evidence,  says UQ School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences researcher Professor Paul Hodges.

The website also helps navigate people with back pain towards the health professionals who can offer help, and steer them away from ineffective investigations such as X-rays, he says.

The site has been developed in partnership with Arthritis Australia, University of Sydney, University of Melbourne, and Cochrane Back and Neck.

Arthritis Australia CEO Andrew Mills said MyBackPain.org.au was created with extensive consultation with people living with lower back pain so that users can learn from the experience of others, and receive recommendations that are tailored to them.“The input from people living with LBP was crucial when creating the content and functionality of the website,” he said.

“The internet is often the first port of call for those with LBP but up-to-date accurate and unbiased evidence-based information is hard to find,” he said.