New evidence that for adolescents with chronic low back pain, spinal manipulation combined with exercise is more effective than exercise alone
Evans et al have just published a paper in the highly respected journal PAIN which concluded "For adolescents with chronic LBP, spinal manipulation combined with exercise was more effective than exercise alone over a 1-year period, with the largest differences occurring at 6 months".
According to the abstract; "Low back pain (LBP) is common in adolescence, but there is a paucity of high-quality research to inform care. We conducted a multicenter randomized trial comparing 12 weeks of spinal manipulative therapy (SMT) combined with exercise therapy (ET) to ET alone. Participants were 185 adolescents aged 12 to 18 years with chronic LBP. The primary outcome was LBP severity at 12, 26, and 52 weeks".
Looking at the details, it is interesting to observe that at 26 weeks the proportions reporting being 100% improved are 5.9% (ET alone) and 20.0% (SMT + ET) a difference of 14.1 (95% CI: 4.1 to 24.1). Put another way, that is 3.4 times greater proportion reporting being 100% improved if they received SMT as well as exercise...