Study Finds Modest Benefit of Physical Therapy for Back Pain

Friday, October 16, 2015 | 0

Early physical therapy for low-back pain produced improved results for patients compared to those who didn’t receive therapy, but the difference was modest and not considered clinically important, according to a study in the Oct. 13 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The study looked at 220 patients with recent-onset low-back pain, assigning 108 to early physical therapy and 112 to “usual care” without physical therapy in the first four weeks. The physical therapy group received four treatments consisting of manipulation and exercise, according to a summary of the study in Medical News Today.

The early physical therapy group showed modest improvement compared to the usual care patients as measured by level of disability after three months, MNT reported.

The study by Julie Fritz of the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, and colleagues noted that patients with low-back pain typically improve rapidly and so the effects of early treatment may be limited.