A randomized trial assigned 94 adults with chronic low back pain to 12 weeks of exercise, live by videoconference with a kinesiologist or alone with pre recorded videos, or to a waitlist. Among the 57 finishers, pain fell versus waitlist by roughly 2.5 points on a 0 to 10 scale with live sessions and just over 2 with videos, each a clinically worthwhile drop of over 20%. Formats did not differ, though the trial was not designed to show equivalence. Pain at rest barely moved; what fell was movement evoked pain: pain on standing from a chair or a short walk. The sample was small, a third dropped out, the physical test assessor was unblinded, and video attendance was self reported (about 14 of 36 sessions versus 19 live). Why women reported less relief than men remains open.

That also worked for my grad school :)