Spinal Manipulative Therapy for Low Back Pain

Spinal Manipulative Therapy for Low Back Pain: Randomised Controlled Trial

Status

Completed

Phases

Phase 4

Study type

Interventional

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT00294229

Enrollment

104

Registered

2006-02-20

Start date

2003-03-31

Completion date

2006-10-31

Last updated

2011-10-03

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Low Back Pain

Keywords

Low back pain, Spinal manipulative therapy, Randomised controlled trial

Brief summary

Context: Acute low back pain (LBP) is a common reason for consultations in primary care. Reducing the pain in the first hours and days and restoring the functional capacity of the lumbar spine may result in a decrease in medical costs and earlier return to work. Objective: To determine the impact of spinal manipulation on pain and analgesic use in acute low back pain.

Detailed description

Design: Randomised controlled parallel-group trial comparing standard care plus spinal manipulative therapy with standard care alone. Intention-to-treat analysis. Patients: Outpatients with acute low back pain. Setting: Emergency Department of Bern University Hospital and a primary care practice network.

Interventions

PROCEDUREmanipulative therapy

Study design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Intervention model

PARALLEL

Primary purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

ALL

Age

20 Years to 55 Years

Healthy volunteers

Inclusion criteria

1. Age between 20 and 55 years 2. Duration of acute low back pain less than 4 weeks 3. Informed consent

Exclusion criteria

1. Pregnancy 2. Radicular origin of back pain (with irradiation) 3. Cauda equine syndrome 4. Neurologic deficit 5. Epidural glucocorticoid injections in the preceding three months 6. Previous low back surgery 7. Severe osteoporosis 8. Blood-coagulation disorder 9. Allergy to planned rescue medications 10. Suspicion of a specific cause of low back pain (fracture, tumor, infection, inflammatory disease of the spine, HIV-infection) in the patient's history or by physical examination 11. History or signs of severe dysfunction of the liver or kidney

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame
Back pain overall measured by a numeric rating scale(range 0 to 10)	—
Analgesic use based on daily equivalence doses (paracetamol, diclofenac and codeine)	—

Secondary

Measure	Time frame
Roland Morris Score	—
Serious adverse events	—

Countries

Switzerland

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026