Study 2: “Interventions for the management of acute and chronic low back pain: revision 2021” George et al.
This clinical practice guideline was an update of the 2012 version. The recommendations for acute low back pain are:
- Clinicians should use:
- Thrust or nonthrust joint mobilization
- Clinicians may use:
- Massage or soft tissue mobilization
- Treatment-based classification
- Active education strategies including one-on-one education to remain active, pacing strategies, and favorable natural history
- Clinicians can use:
- Exercise
- Mechanical Diagnosis and Treatment
The recommendations for chronic low back pain are:
- Clinicians should use:
- Exercise
- Thrust or nonthrust joint mobilization
- Pain neuroscience education alongside other interventions
- Clinicians may use:
- Massage or soft tissue in conjunction with other treatments
- Neural mobilization in conjunction with other treatments
- Mechanical Diagnosis and Treatment
- Standard education strategies to stay active
- Clinicians can use:
- Dry needling in conjunction with other treatments
- Treatment based classification
Our key takeaway from this study is that conservative clinicians have many different interventions that may be able to help low back pain patients! The good news for conservative clinicians is the fact that more research is identifying what is the most effective, least costly, and highest patient satisfaction interventions. Full study available at: https://www.jospt.org/doi/10.2519/jospt.2021.0304
You can get the complete list of studies by clicking here.