Introduction/Aim: The Global Burden of Disease study (2015) reported that chronic low back pain (CLBP) is the most prevalent and disabling condition amongst numerous chronic illnesses. According to the guidelines provided by Airaksinen and colleagues (2006), supervised physical exercise intervention is an important first-step treatment of nonspecific chronic low back pain. Here, we investigated the impact of a 14-week long personalized physical exercise training on pain intensity, perceived disability and several psychological factors in people suffering from CLBP. 
Methods: Twenty-three participants (female - 16, male - 7, age range 22-72 years old) suffering from chronic low back pain were recruited to complete 14 weeks of cardiovascular training and muscle strengthening program. At the beginning and at the end of this intervention, we assessed their pain intensity following NIH (2017) guidelines and asked participants to complete several psychosocial questionnaires (Beck Depression Inventory, Pain Catastrophizing Scale, and Oswestry Disability Index).
Results: Following a long-term physical exercise intervention, perceived pain intensity decreased significantly (p=0.001). Pain catastrophizing score (p=0.004), Oswestry disability index(p=0.005) and Beck depression index(p=0.022) showed a significant decrease.
Discussion/Conclusions: Our findings suggest that a long-term physical exercise training substantially contributes in reducing pain and improves psychological factors in patients with chronic low back pain. In order to support our hypothesis further, we are looking forward to including results of a wait-list control group in our future analysis.

LONG-TERM PHYSICAL EXERCISE TRAINING PROGRAM SUCCESSFULLY REDUCES PAIN INTENSITY AND BENEFITS PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS IN INDIVIDUALS EXPERIENCING CHRONIC LOW BACK PAIN