Back pain is one of the leading causes of disability in the world, but an AI-powered app is being used to help patients in the UK to manage their symptoms. But how does it measure up?

When I hurt my back in October 2024, the cause wasn't immediately clear. Perhaps, something went awry while hoisting one of my young nephews in the air. Or, more likely, I messed my back up while lifting a bed so my wife could slide a rug underneath.

Whatever the trigger, my overconfidence in my own strength left me with a lower back injury. Days later, the pain began radiating down the sciatic nerve in my left leg. Standing was fine, sitting was torture. In order to sleep, I had to slide a pillow underneath my legs to keep the downward-pulsing shockwaves at bay.

By mid-December, I saw a pain medicine specialist in the area of Washington, DC where I live. He ran some movement tests, sent me for X-rays, and wrote me a referral for physical therapy with a diagnosis of "lumbar radiculopathy". In the United States, this is a relatively quick process – I went from pain to starting treatment in about three months. But that's still a very long time for something so common – and debilitating – as lower back pain.

Since early January, I have seen human physical therapists who work wonders. Once a week, I go in, discuss my pain, get a soft-tissue massage, and do well-supervised exercises and stretches. My pain isn't gone, but it's finally under control.

I specified that these physical therapists are human because, well, I've also been seeing a new physio in the UK. But my new British physio is only partly human. Rather, she's a series of pre-recorded videos made by a real physiotherapist, powered by artificial intelligence that I can access via an app on my phone.

The service, provided by a company called Flok Health, is the first artificial intelligence clinic – of any kind – to be trialled by the UK's National Health Service (NHS). It's been approved for use by the country’s Care Quality Commission as a registered healthcare provider, and began seeing patients – just like me – at the end of 2024.

The reason: a lot of people suffer from lower back pain and struggle to get access to the care they need. As of September 2024, nearly 350,000 people in England alone were on waiting lists for treatment for musculoskeletal problems – the longest of all waitlists for any set of conditions. The UK government reported that 23.4 million work days were lost in 2022 alone due to these untreated problems, implying an enormous economic as well as human cost. Globally, lower back pain is a leading cause of disability and affects an estimated 223 million people worldwide.

Flok's promise is to start seeing patients immediately, relieve the burden on the NHS, and head off patients' back pain before they go untreated and deteriorate. It's a noble mission, but I had one question: Was AI really the answer?

In addition to being a trained doctor, Finn Stevenson spent time as a professional rower in Great Britain's Olympic development programme. Anyone who has rowed before – or even spent time on a rowing machine at a gym – knows that the sport can be an incredible workout but also brutal on the back if your form isn't perfect. While a professional athlete, Stevenson had access to top doctors and physiotherapists who could treat his ailments immediately. But when he left........

© BBC