Manual therapy followed by specific active exercises versus a placebo followed by specific active exercises on the improvement of functional disability in patients with chronic non specific low back pain: a randomized controlled trial

Table 2 Values of self-questionnaires (VAS-pain (average 48-hour pain); ODI; FABQ-wk; FABQ-pa) and clinical tests (Sorensen; Shirado) for the MT and ST groups before treatment, after treatment, and at 3 and 6 months after the end of treatment

Variable	Time	ST group		MT group
		n	Mean ± SD	n	Mean ± SD
VAS-pain Average 24 hour (mm)	Pre	22	65 ± 22	20	53 ± 20
	Post	21	41 ± 29	18	28 ± 21
	3 months	20	42 ± 32	18	18 ± 17
	6 months	19	38 ± 32	18	23 ± 17
ODI	Pre	22	32 ± 14	20	30 ± 13
	Post	21	26 ± 15	18	20 ± 15
	3 months	20	26 ± 21	18	16 ± 14
	6 months	19	26 ± 25	18	16 ± 11
FABQ-wk	Pre	22	20 ± 14	20	21 ± 11
	Post	21	17 ± 13	18	17 ± 14
	3 months	20	21 ± 13	18	18 ± 15
	6 months	19	19 ± 13	18	18 ± 14
FABQ-pa	Pre	22	15 ± 7	20	11 ± 8
	Post	21	15 ± 7	18	13 ± 8
	3 months	20	15 ± 8	18	11 ± 7
	6 months	19	13 ± 8	18	11 ± 9
Sorensen (sec.)	Pre	22	53 ± 50	20	57 ± 51
	Post	21	67 ± 49	18	68 ± 58
	3 months	20	78 ± 46	18	57 ± 50
	6 months	19	86 ± 61	18	76 ± 47
Shirado (sec.)	Pre	22	98 ± 87	20	96 ± 107
	Post	21	102 ± 84	18	128 ± 112
	3 months	20	144 ± 107	18	116 ± 99
	6 months	19	158 ± 140	18	114 ± 73

VAS-pain, Visual Analogue Scale of pain; ODI, Oswestry Disability Index; FABQ-wk, Fear-Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire Work Subscale; FABQ-pa, Fear-Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire Physical Activity Subscale; SD, standard deviation.
MT group = Manual therapy group; ST group = Sham therapy group.
Pre = before treatment; Post = after treatment; 3 and 6 months = 3 and 6 months after the end of treatment; n = number of patients.
For all scales and questionnaires, the score increases with severity of pain or symptom, except for the Sorensen and Shirado tests, wich act conversely.

ISSN: 1471-2474