Abstract
BackgroundMusculoskeletal pain is among the most common reasons for seeking care, specialist competence for its treatment in primary care limited and waiting lists for orthopaedics often amongst the longest. Many referrals to orthopaedics do not concern disorders that benefit from surgery. Manual therapy is effective, yet not integrated in national health care systems, and there is a lack of research on other than neck and low back pain, and a lack of long-term follow-ups. The present study evaluates the long-term effects of a manual therapy (naprapathy) for common orthopaedic disorders.MethodsAn 8-year follow-up (96 months) of a pragmatic randomized controlled trial of naprapathy (experimental group) versus standard orthopaedic care (control group) for non-surgical patients of working age with the most common musculoskeletal disorders on the waiting lists (n = 78). Bodily pain, physical function (SF36), Quality of life (QoL; SF6D), and data on health care utilization were collected. The treatments lasted from January 2007 to November 2007.ResultsN = 75 participants in the original study sample completed the 8-year follow-up. The differences in bodily pain (21.7 (95% CI: 9.1–34.3)), physical function (17.6 (6.7–28.4)), and QoLs (0.823 (95% CI: 0.785–0.862) compared with 0.713 (95% CI: 0.668–0.758)) were statistically significantly in favor of the experimental group (p-values < 0.01). After sensitivity analysis the experimental group had altogether 260 health care visits compared with 1161 in the control group.ConclusionsNaprapathy is a continuously effective treatment. Together with earlier research our study suggests that specialized manual therapy should be considered when triaging patients with common non-surgical musculoskeletal disorders in national health care systems.Trial registration: Not applicable, as per information given by ClinicalTrials.gov.
Highlights
Musculoskeletal pain and disorders in the locomotor system are dominant causes for years lived with disability (Disability Adjusted Life Years; DALY), decreased quality of life, and a potential income loss for the individual [1]
Significant differences between the groups were found as regards improvement in bodily pain, physical function and perceived recovery, in favor of the experimental group
Sixty-two percent of the patients in the experimental group agreed to be discharged from the waiting lists at the 12 months follow-up, and the level of diagnostic agreement between manual therapist and orthopaedist with regard to the patients that crossed over was 80%
Summary
Musculoskeletal pain and disorders in the locomotor system are dominant causes for years lived with disability (Disability Adjusted Life Years; DALY), decreased quality of life, and a potential income loss for the individual [1]. Lilje et al Chiropr Man Therap (2021) 29:43 increased healthcare seeking behavior, reduced work ability, sick leave, and high socioeconomic costs due to more frequent early retirement [2]. It is one of the most common reasons for seeking care and constitutes around half of the consultations in primary care [3, 4]. Musculoskeletal pain is among the most common reasons for seeking care, specialist competence for its treatment in primary care limited and waiting lists for orthopaedics often amongst the longest. The present study evaluates the long-term effects of a manual therapy (naprapathy) for common orthopaedic disorders
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
