Online apps have been recommended to help people with lower back pain in a bid to tackle NHS waiting lists. Seven platforms have been given the green light for people over the age of 16 to manage their condition in early value assessment guidance published by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice). According to the NHS Long Term Plan, lower back pain is the biggest cause of disability and is thought to account for about 30% of GP consultations every year. England affected by long-term back pain" data-source="UKHSA"> UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) figures show there are 9.11 million people living with long-term back pain in England. Nice said it hopes its guidance will work towards reducing inequalities in care for musculoskeletal conditions. It also hopes the move could reduce NHS waiting lists, as well as bringing down the number for people using medication or waiting for GP or physiotherapy appointments. On Thursday, it emerged that a record 7.75 million people in England were waiting to start NHS treatment at the end of August. The digital platforms our committee has recommended could provide the NHS with extra capacity to get those effected off waiting lists, which vary in length across the country, and into treatment Mark Chapman, Nice Mark Chapman, interim director of medical technology and digital evaluation at Nice, said: “More than two million people suffer from low back pain each year and there are considerable pressures on NHS services to provide the treatment and care to those needing support with this debilitating condition. “The digital platforms our committee has recommended could provide the NHS with extra capacity to get those effected off waiting lists, which vary in length across the country, and into treatment. “We believe these technologies have the potential to offer value for money for the taxpayer, while offering people with low back pain quicker access to get the care they need at a time and place of their choosing.” The platforms recommended for NHS use are ACT for PAIN, getUBetter, Hinge Health, Kaia, Pathway through Pain, selfBACK and SupportBack. Some of the apps are designed for people with new back pain, while others are aimed at those with chronic back pain. These apps are yet another example of how technology can be used help patients get the care they need, when they need it Health minister Will Quince The platforms offer access to multi-disciplinary teams, along with guided exercise videos, and reminder functions for patients to do tasks such as filling in questionnaires. Health minister Will Quince added: “These apps are yet another example of how technology can be used help patients get the care they need, when they need it. “They offer a range of services which will allow patients to manage lower back pain from the comfort of their homes by improving access to musculoskeletal services – which will form a key part of our Major Conditions Strategy. “This will help to reduce pressures on the NHS and can help to cut waiting lists – one of the government’s top priorities – and will help people to live happier, healthier lives.” The technologies recommended in the guidance can be used once they have appropriate regulatory approval and meet the standards within NHS England’s Digital Technology Assessment Criteria, Nice said. The watchdog also recommends lower back pain self-management, exercise, manual therapies, psychological therapy, and combined physical and psychological programmes as well as return to work programmes. Denice Logan Rose, executive director of BackCare (National Back Pain Association), said: “Very many people living with non-specific low back pain feel that they have nowhere to turn for help, they are desperate and are at a complete loss about what they can do to help themselves. “Apps form a significant part of the technology-driven world we live in and if they can be used to help people living with back pain to lead more pain-free and active lives, this is a huge step forward.” Read More From choppy bobs to fox red, 5 celebrity-approved hair trends for autumn The UK’s first dedicated male breast cancer organisation has launched – here’s why it matters How Taylor Swift’s style has evolved over the years Model Emily Ratajkowski unveils latest fashion campaign 10 ways to cosy-up your home for an autumnal vibe 5 must-have bag trends for autumn

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There was a rare wistfulness around the Champions League draw in Monaco, where football’s most powerful and wealthy gathered in a fittingly ostentatious setting. An era was about to pass. If the competition’s group stage has recently become a round to pay minimal attention to, this is a season to really savour it. That is because it’s the last one before the introduction of the Swiss system. This will be the last campaign we go through the satisfying symmetry of the round-robin, hoping it builds up to one of those final matchdays – part of a lexicon that is the stage’s legacy – where it is anything but symmetrical and chaos reigns. The clean nature of the format has produced some wonderfully untidy endings. Appropriately, a returning Arsenal will aim to relive how often they got through under Arsene Wenger. Newcastle United will doubtless be seeking to build atmosphere by showing Faustino Asprilla’s hat-trick against Barcelona in 1997-98, as well as the stirring comeback in 2002-03. Manchester United, the English club perhaps most associated with how thrillingly exacting the group stage used to be, are back for one final fight. It might not be easy, but that may not prove such an obstacle to getting through. This is, of course, a large reason why this is the last group stage. All it has really got left is nostalgia. There have been fewer and fewer nights where you feel the old tension. On average, 15 of the 16 wealthiest usually get through every season. It was arguably why Manchester City’s long-awaited victory was the real start of a new era, more so than this end to the traditional groups, or the fact this is the first campaign since 2002-03 without Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. The defending champions are the first state-owned club to win the competition, capping how the entry of such interests and an escalation of a very Western form of capitalism have had such a transformative effect on European football. This is why the group stage was changed. The constant raising of the financial threshold has made so much of it so predictable. Altering the format is, of course, addressing the wrong issue. The problem isn’t the structure but structural financial inequality. Through that, City’s win coincided with how the Champions League was already losing some of its lustre. That sense of suspense is gone. Its world feels smaller, with fewer and fewer clubs able to realistically think they can win the trophy. Can anyone really think that at all this season outside City? Has there ever been any time when one team were such overwhelming favourites, without anyone close to a comparable heavyweight? Barcelona 2009-10 or 2010-11, perhaps, but even that was in a less financially-stratified football world. That economic structure is one factor explaining City’s power. Consider Barcelona’s own group stage from 2009-10, and how testing it was. They lost at home to Rubin Kazan, and came close to going out. The other side is just how good Guardiola has made this City, and how they brutalised both Bayern Munich and Real Madrid last season. Wenger’s description of AC Milan as “super favourites” to his Monaco staff in the 1990s doesn’t feel like it adequately describes the current champions. Even in regards to potential flaws in the City side, last season’s victory has already removed virtually all of the self-doubts that made their European ties more enthralling. One of the dominant recent storylines has ended, Pep Guardiola is instead seeking to fortify the argument that he is the greatest of all time by retaining the trophy for the first time in his career and matching Carlo Ancelotti with his fourth as a manager. It’s hard to imagine anyone in the modern game wanted the Champions League as much as Guardiola over the last decade, but that sense of yearning is now most felt around Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappe. Sprinting into the breach left by Messi and Ronaldo, Mbappe knows the trophy is crucial to his own legacy. He is said to be more aware of this than any previous player, even those two totems. It’s partly why he wants to go to Real Madrid, although his own last season at Paris Saint-Germain may well coincide with the club finally putting in place a team that has a football logic. That, in turn, means that the soap opera element of this sportswashing project could have gone, maybe making PSG less interesting. Under Luis Enrique, though, a hard-running young team look more capable of going the distance. That prospect is why Kane has gone to Bayern Munich, and the fact that the final is being staged at Wembley only adds to one of this campaign’s more enthralling individual narratives. Jude Bellingham will be looking at it the same way with Real Madrid. Beyond that, though, it doesn’t feel like there are many other foreign clubs that can really challenge the Premier League’s power. This is how the world of the Champions League has got smaller, with the solution to bloat the opening stage next season. There is still a sense that Xavi’s Barcelona are that level below. Atletico Madrid are resurgent but not the resilient force of almost a decade ago. Milan are, again, promising, but the problem is that they are in the most difficult group of all, along with PSG, Borussia Dortmund and Newcastle United. It’s a particularly challenging group stage for Eddie Howe. He’s not just going to have to adapt to European football – although the modern game makes that far less drastic an adaptation than previous – but also the schedule European football involves. That will be sapping, even as the very theme ringing around St James Park will be invigorating. It is likely to be the main source of suspense. This European outing will also be fraught with emotional investment since there are many in football – and not just in England – willing Newcastle United to fail due to their owners. There remains a general disgruntlement about the summer, and how much the Saudi Pro League disrupted the game while still spending most of its money in the Premier League. It has had the most disruptive effect on the European game since the expansion of the Champions League itself. The distortion that the competition’s own prize money has caused can’t be overlooked. It is central to its power. That power is also why there is a widespread belief around the European game that the Saudi Pro League eventually want into the competition itself. Uefa are currently adamant it will not happen. The prospect does hang there, though. It could be described as a point of no return, but there’s not exactly much prospect of going back to what football was. This season marks a bit of a time capsule in that sense since it is also the last of 32 teams. Next year’s move to 36 might also be the last of the “top four” in the Premier League, as the competition’s coefficient strength could perpetually bring five qualifiers. There is a tremendous amount of symbolism in how Napoli and Real Madrid meet in this last group stage. It was that very fixture, in 1987, that provoked Silvio Berlusconi into pushing for change to the old European Cup in the first place. It was that which led to the group stage, and a round that was for so long the “television spectacular” the Italian magnate wanted. There are similar historical echoes in some other fixtures: United-Galatasaray, Arsenal-Lens, Barcelona-Shakhtar Donetsk. None of them sound like what they used to be, though. There isn’t the same sporting peril. There are some potentially interesting stories, like Union Berlin or Real Sociedad, but most of the groups are fairly predictable. Those involving Arsenal, City and United actually look the worst for that. The usual statement at this point would be that the competition always has the capacity to surprise, but that is, at this point, a hope, rather than an expectation. There’s no longer much to be wistful about, other than what European football used to be. That is an issue that goes beyond the format of the group stage. For now, it means most have to wait beyond even the last-16 for true drama. Read More Manchester United are a mess — and it could be about to get even worse From ‘unpromotable’ to the Champions League: Union Berlin fairytale is perfect antidote to modern football Ramsdale or Raya? Mikel Arteta’s unorthodox solution to Arsenal’s problem Delayed arrival in Milan ‘no big deal’, insists Newcastle boss Eddie Howe UEFA Champions League 2023/24 schedule - every game in the group stage Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino understands Thiago Silva’s frustration

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AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct 10, 2023--

The Israeli military's operation in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin is winding down but "not over" until the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) say it is, a spokesperson told CNN, as the United Nations expressed deep concern over the violence in the city's sprawling refugee camp.