A Comparison of Two Different Methods of Physical Therapy to Treat Acute and Subacute Low Back Pain

Completed · Not applicable

Conditions studied: Low Back Pain

In brief

Recent research has shown that classifying patients with low back pain into treatment subgroups results in better improvements than treating all patients with low back pain the same. However, physical therapists may use different types of information to determine how to classify their patients. One method uses patient characteristics that have been shown by research to predict good results from a certain type of treatment. Another method uses specific impairments that the physical therapist identifies in a clinical exam to determine which treatment to provide. It is not currently known if one of these methods is better than the other. The purpose of this study is to determine if research-based classification or impairment-based treatment is more effective for treating patients with low back pain that has lasted less than 90 days in terms of improvements in pain and disability. The results of this study may help reduce the high financial cost associated with low back pain.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT02060617

Run by

Hendricks Regional Health

People needed

23

Starts

2014-04-01

Expected to finish

2016-09-01

Last updated by the study team

2016-09-29

Who can join

Age: 18 and older, up to 80. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

You may qualify if…

• primary complaint of low back pain with or without leg symptoms
• duration of symptoms 24 hours to 90 days
• modified Oswestry score of 20 or greater
• able to read and speak English.

You may not qualify if…

• current pregnancy
• spinal steroid injections within the past month
• spinal surgery in the past 6 months
• current worker's compensation or motor vehicle accident claim
• presence of any red flag symptoms indicating possible serious pathology or non-musculoskeletal pain

Where it is running

• Hendricks Regional Health — Plainfield, Indiana, United States

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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