Synergistic Effects of Culturally Adapted Mindful Movement on Pain Catastrophizing and Physical Function in Chronic Low Back Pain: A Randomized Controlled Trial

The current research was done with the aim to identify the joint effect of mindful movement program adapted to culture and translated into Uzbek on pain catastrophization and physical function in patients with chronic non-specific LBP. The design of this study was randomized controlled trial with parallel groups. 96 patients from clinics in the cities of Tashkent and Samarkand aged 25 to 60 years who suffered from chronic low back pain for more than 12 weeks with a score of pain intensity more than 4 out of 10 were recruited to the study between March and April 2025 and allocated randomly to two intervention groups (n = 48) and control groups (n = 48). The intervention group underwent a 2-month course of mindful movement (16 sessions of 60 minutes duration including movement, breathing, and relaxation training) and the control group underwent standard physiotherapy. The catastrophizing was evaluated by the PCS scale, physical functioning by Roland-Morris questionnaire, pain intensity by a numeric scale pre-intervention, at week 8 and 3 months post intervention. The interaction effect of group × time was found to be significant for the overall catastrophizing score (partial η² = 0.16, p > 0.001), disability (partial η² = 0.12), and pain intensity (partial η² = 0.09). The PCS score in the intervention group dropped from 2.30 to 1.22 at week 8, while the control group did not experience any significant changes. The Roland-Morris score dropped from 4.12 to 1.8. According to mediation analysis, 56% of the change in physical functioning could be explained by the change in catastrophizing. On average, participants attended 14.2 of 16 classes and drop-out was 10.4%. The culturally adapted mindful movement intervention resulted in improvements in both the psychological and physiological aspects of CLBP due to decreased levels of catastrophizing. This integration increases the efficacy of the intervention program by making it more than just a physiotherapy program.