Abstract
A 42-year-old woman with chronic back pain for 19. yr. was taught behavioral self-management strategies to establish and maintain a relaxation and orthopedic exercises regimen. The gradual improvement in compliance to the exercises seemed to be more a function of antecedents (instructions from the therapist, graphed data, and response products of the patient's own verbal behavior) than of the unreliably administered consequences written into the self-management package. However, average daily pain level was dramatically reduced early in treatment, and the number of consecutive days with neither pain nor analgesic consumption was increased from two days during baseline to 64 days after which treatment was terminated. At 6-wk. and 4-mo. follow-ups, the patient reported that she had remained pain free and was continuing to comply with her exercise routine.
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