AN innovative service for people suffering chronic back pain has proved a success.

In the three years the service has been established in the Sedgefield Primary Care Trust area, back pain has been reduced by an average 40 per cent among people completing the programme.

The service is available to people who have sufferered chronic back pain for more than three months.

It is based on a spinal rehabilitation programme practised extensively in Australia and America, and was one of the first of its kind to be established in the country.

The course relies heavily on exercise, but also includes educating patients about how the spine works and what can go wrong to cause pain.

Led by back pain advisor Greg Henderson, patients are referred to the programme by a GP.

An initial assessment takes place to determine if the patient needs more specialist treatment.

Patients determined as being suitable for the programme start with a week-long course of exercise and relaxation techniques at Newton Aycliffe or Spennymoor leisure centres, or at Sedgefield Community College.

After the initial sessions, patients can use the facilities at those centres, or others at Ferryhill, Shildon and Trimdon, without charge for four weeks, under the supervision of an instructor.

Mr Henderson said: "The results we have had have been fantastic. We did some research on it and the back pain that people complain of at the beginning is going down by an average of 40 per cent.

"A lot of patients with chronic bad backs have tried other things, so this is really making a big difference and I'm chuffed to bits with the success. A lot of people return to work and keep the exercises going, or take up hobbies they had to pack in because of their backs. We are helping people get their lives back.

He said because people with chronic back problems were moving through the system, it was freeing GPs to see acute back pain sufferers more quickly and discharge them more rapidly.

"A lot of people think there is not much that can be done for back pain, but given the right exercise, advice and supervision, that has been changing," he said.