OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effects of individual patient education for managing acute and/or subacute low back pain (LBP), compared to no intervention/placebo education, noneducational interventions, or other type of education. DESIGN: Systematic review with meta-analysis of randomized trials. LITERATURE SEARCH: PubMed, CINAHL, PEDro, Embase, Scopus, and CENTRAL (up to September 30, 2020); reference lists of previous systematic reviews. STUDY SELECTION CRITERIA: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating individual education for patients with acute and/or subacute LBP. DATA SYNTHESIS: Random-effects meta-analysis for clinically homogeneous RCTs. Certainty of evidence was assessed using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation approach. RESULTS: We included 13 RCTs. There was moderate certainty evidence that individual patient education was more effective than placebo education for pain at medium term (mean difference (MD) -0.79; 95% confidence interval (CI) -1.52 to -0.07) and physical function at short term (standardized mean difference (SMD) -0.25; 95% CI -0.47 to -0.02) and medium term (SMD -0.26; 95% CI -0.48 to -0.04), but with no clinically relevant effects. There was low-to-moderate certainty evidence that individual patient education was superior to noneducational interventions on short-term quality of life (MD -12.00; 95% CI -20.05 to -3.95) and medium-term sick leave (odds ratio 0.32; 95% CI 0.11 to 0.88). We found no clinically relevant between-group effects for any other comparison (low-to-high certainty of evidence) at any follow-up. CONCLUSION: One or 2 hours of individual patient education probably makes little to no difference in pain and functional outcomes compared with placebo for patients with acute and/or subacute LBP. Considering its effects on other outcomes (eg, reassurance) and patients' desire for information about their condition, it is reasonable to retain patient education as part of a first-line approach when managing acute and subacute LBP.

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