The Effect of Manual Therapy and Therapeutic Exercises on Pain and Functional Status in Persons With Low Back Pain

Non-specific chronic low back pain (LBP) can be managed with a variety of treatments such as educational programmes, behavioural therapy, acupuncture, medication, electrophysical agents, manual therapy and exercise therapy. Although the above therapies are widely used, they show limited effect at best, with frequent recurrences of LBP. There is insufficient data to prove that one type of exercise is superior to another. Manual therapy is a common therapeutic method used in the treatment of LBP. Therefore, we hypothesised that manual therapy combined with therapeutic exercises would lead to a greater reduction in back pain and improvement in functional status. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of 6 weeks of manual therapy combined with therapeutic exercise on pain and functional status in subjects with chronic non-specific low back pain.