MANUAL THERAPY WITH STEROID INJECTIONS - A NEW APPROACH TO TREATMENT OF LOW-BACK-PAIN - A CONTROLLED MULTICENTER TRIAL WITH AN EVALUATION BY ORTHOPEDIC SURGEONS

Fifty-three acute or subacute patients with low back pain were given s tandardized but optimized activating conventional treatment by primary health care teams. Forty-eight patients received an experimental trea tment that included specific manual treatment, such as manipulation an d specific mobilization, muscle stretching, auto-traction, and cortiso ne injections. After 4 months, the experimental group had a less restr icted range of movement in extension, less restricted side-bending to the right and to the left, less local pain caused by extension and sid e-bending to the right, less pain radiating to the right leg caused by side-bending to the left, and a less positive straight leg raising te st (both sides) than the conventionally treated group. Manual treatmen t was superior to the conventional activating treatment in normalizing pathologic findings on physical examination of the lower back. These results agree with the positive influence on pain, drug consumption, s ick-leave, disability rating, and quality of life reported in other re ports from the same study.