Osteopathic manipulation treatment versus therapeutic exercises in patients with chronic nonspecific low back pain: A randomized, controlled and double-blind study.

Abstract

Osteopathic manipulation treatment is widely used in the clinical practice in the care of patients with chronic nonspecific low back pain, however, its benefits still seem uncertain. This study aimed to verify the efficacy of osteopathic manipulation for chronic nonspecific low back pain. Forty-two participants with chronic nonspecific low back pain were selected and randomized into two groups: active control group (ACG - n= 19) and osteopathic manipulation treatment group (OMTG - n= 23). Therapeutic exercises were performed with the ACG and osteopathic manipulation techniques with the OMTG. The interventions were carried out over 5weeks of treatment, totaling 10 treatments for the ACG and 5 for the OMTG.The visual analogue scale (VAS) was used to measure chronic nonspecific low back pain and the Oswestry Disability Index 2.0, Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia and Beck Depression Inventory were used to measure disability, kinesiophobia and depression, respectively. The final chronic nonspecific low back pain in both groups was significantly lower than the initial low back pain (p⩽ 0.01) and the final chronic nonspecific low back pain of the OMTG was significantly lower than that of the ACG (p= 0.001). This study demonstrated that the treatments were effective in both groups. However, the efficacy of the osteopathic manipulation treatment was greater than that of the therapeutic exercises.