A review in the journal Spine found that spinal manipulative therapy has significant but very small benefits for patients with chronic low back pain, according to a news release by Wolters Kluwer Health, the publisher of Spine.
The review identified 26 randomized trials that varied in quality, with only nine considered to have low risk of bias.
Reviewers concluded there is no clinically relevant difference between spinal manipulative therapy and other interventions for reducing pain and improving function in patients with low back pain. For example, the average reduction in pain scores after treatment was about four points on a 100-point scale and the benefits seemed to decrease over time.
Read the Wolters Kluwer Health release on spinal manipulative therapy.
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