The Integrated Resilience Method: A Whole-Person Framework for Women 50+ Living with Chronic Low Back Pain

Chronic low back pain (CLBP) is the leading cause of disability in women over 50, compounded by menopause, caregiving demands, and reduced physical capacity. This article presents the Integrated Resilience Method, a six-pillar framework integrating evidence-based self-management strategies for postmenopausal women with CLBP. The framework is a conceptual model informed by clinical and lived experience with chronic low back pain and a broad, narrative review of the literature across pain science, rehabilitation, women's health, and lifestyle medicine. Its six interconnected pillars—Resilient Identity, Pain Signal Mastery, Nervous System Recalibration, Capacity Restoration, Anti-Inflammatory Foundation, and Sustainable Performance Habits—address the biopsychosocial factors that drive CLBP in postmenopausal women, including hormonal change, sarcopenia, sleep disruption, fear-avoidance, and caregiving stress. Within the framework, evidence hierarchy prioritizes exercise, pain education, and self-efficacy as the components with the strongest evidence, with nutrition and stress-resilience practices positioned as adjunct supports aligned with lifestyle-medicine priorities. The Integrated Resilience Method offers clinicians, nurses, physical therapists, and health coaches a practical, patient-centered model that translates current pain science into sustainable lifestyle interventions for midlife women. It is applicable in primary care, rehabilitation, and community-based settings, and is designed to complement—not replace—medical evaluation and treatment.