Immediate Changes After Manual Therapy in Patients With Persistent, Nonspecific Back Pain: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Context . Thoracic manipulation decreases pain and disability. However, when such manipulation is contraindicated, the use of other manual techniques based on the regional interdependence of the thoracic spine, upper ribs, and shoulders is an alternative approach. Objective . The study intended to investigate the immediate changes resulting from 3 manual therapy treatments on spinal mobility, flexibility, comfort, and pain perception in patients with persistent, nonspecific back pain as well as changes in their sense of physical well-being and their perception of change after treatment. Design . The study was a randomized, double-blind, controlled trial. Setting . The study took place in the Department of Physiotherapy of the Faculty of Physiotherapy at the University of Valencia (Valencia, Spain). Participants . Participants were 112 individuals from the community-56.6% female, with a mean age of 21.8 +/- 0.2 y-who had persistent, nonspecific back pain. Intervention . Participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 groups, receiving (1) neurolymphatic therapy (NL group), (2) articulatory spinal manual therapy (AS group), or (3) articulatory costal manual therapy (AC group). Outcome Measures . Cervical mobility, lumbar flexibility, comfort, pain perception, and physical well-being were assessed at baseline and immediately postintervention. Perception of change was evaluated postintervention. Results . Between baseline and postintervention, the AC group showed a significant increase in cervical flexion (P = .010), whereas the NL and AS groups improved in lumbar flexibility, P = .047 and P = .012, respectively. For that period, significant changes were found in lumbar comfort for the AS group (P < .001) and the NL group (P < .026) and in thoracic comfort (P < .001) for the AC group. All groups improved in physical well-being and pain perception (P < .05). Changes in thoracic comfort, lumbar comfort, and physical well-being differed among the groups, with some differences being statistically significant. Conclusions . All treatments improved pain perception and increased physical well-being. The NL and AS treatments were more effective in lumbar flexibility, the AC treatment in cervical flexion and thoracic comfort, and the NL treatment in lumbar comfort.