“Finding a new normal: the lived experience of persons’ journey towards coping with persistent low back pain”

ABSTRACT

Introduction

Persistent low back pain (PLBP) is the biggest global cause of disability. Persons with PLBP experience biographic disruption and existential crisis. Guidelines recommend a biopsychosocial approach to management, with the emphasis on coping strategies.

Purpose

However, there is a paucity of research exploring the lived experience of persons who self-identify as coping with PLBP.

Method

The study used an interpretive phenomenological approach, analyzing transcripts from 1:1 interviews with six persons who self-identify as coping with PLBP. Poetic language was used to elicit empathic, embodied relational understanding and convey a richer understanding of the phenomenon that authentic quotations might not able to reveal.

Findings and Conclusion

Participants’ descriptions conveyed the sense of a journey, starting with the loss of a sense of self as they engaged in the pain battle, followed by a transition toward a new ‘normal,’ in which time, acceptance and trust in their own intuition were meaningful components. Although anxiety and fear were a continued presence, but they became more manageable. Society’s role in the coping process was significantly meaningful and is something which requires reflections from therapists’ and more widely.

KEYWORDS:

• Coping
• low back pain
• poetry
• phenomenology

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/09593985.2022.2144782

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.