The BackCare Helpline is here to provide information and support to people affected by back pain.
Back pain can have a profound effect on your life, on the things you enjoy doing, on your family, your well being and your social life.
Sometimes it helps to speak to someone who has had to deal with the same problems and who is able to point you to places where you can get more information or support.
This is what BackCare’s Helpline is here to do for you.
Call the Helpline on 0845 130 2704.
Opening times
The BackCare Helpline (0845 130 2704) is open on the following days:
| Morning | Afternoon | Evening | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | 9am-12noon | 1pm-4pm | 7.30pm-9.30pm |
| Tuesday | 9am-12noon | 7.30pm-9.30pm | |
| Wednesday | 10am-12noon | 1pm-4pm | |
| Thursday | 9am-12noon | 1pm-4pm | |
| Friday | 9am-12noon |
How we work
People call our Helpline for a range of different topics, common topics include:
- I don’t know how to cope with my back pain
- I feel isolated because I can’t leave my house due to severe back pain
- What exercises can I do?
- What can I expect from surgery?
The BackCare Helpline is operated by trained volunteers who all have their own personal experiences of back pain. They use their own experiences and the extensive BackCare Helpline information resources to provide a sympathetic ear and to guide you to information that helps you with coping with your pain.
It was so good to speak to someone who had had a similar experience as I had. It really gave me hope for the future
Ms Avon, Liverpool
The Helpline volunteers get a range of different calls, some take one minute to reply to, while in other cases the volunteers spend half an hour or more with the same caller. If you have a specific information request, you may be able to get the answer on our site. Alternatively visit our library for answers to the most common questions. If you haven’t been able to find the answer to your question or you would like to talk to someone about your back pain, call our helpline.
Confidentiality
We will treat all information you give to the Helpline volunteers confidentially and we will not use the information you provide for any other purpose. In some cases we may want to use case studies in the charity's publications, but if we do so we always first ask for permission from the person in question.
Quality assurance
We monitor the quality of the support and information we provide via the BackCare Helpline on a regular basis. We ask all our callers a few simple questions so we can make sure that we develop the right information sources. In addition, every quarter we contact a random group of callers to our Helpline and ask them about the service they received.
If you have any complaints, suggestions for improvement or other things you would like to let us know, you can contact our Acting Helpline Manager, Sarah Tetlow on email
Disclaimer
It should be noted that any information given via our Helpline, either verbally or written, should not be used as a substitute for professional medical advice. Instead the Helpline should be used to supplement the information or advice received from medically qualified professionals.
Our Helpline volunteers have the right to be respected in the work they do for the BackCare Helpline and if we feel that a caller does not respect this, we will take the appropriate action.