The Immediate Effects of Traditional Bone Setting in Patients with Acute Low Back Pain

摘要

BACKGROUND: Low back pain is common. For acute low back pain, most clinical practice guidelines agree on the use of reassurance, recommendations to stay active, brief education, paracetamol, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, spinal manipulation therapy, muscle relaxants, and weak opioids. Traditional bone setting (Chinese manipulation TBS) has been applied in cases of low back pain for years, and showed good treatment effect. However, there is lack of evidence-based research to show the immediate treatment effects of TBS on the acute low back pain patients. OBJECTIVE: To compare the treatment effect between Chinese bone-setting and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (paracetamol) for the management of patient with acute low back pain. METHODS: Patients with acute low back pain were randomly divided into 2 groups. Patients in the experimental group received the TBS. Patients in the control group received paracetamol. The pain intensity and positive rate of straight leg raising were assessed. All the patients were evaluated two times: before and after treatment 3 hours later (i.e. immediate effect). RESULT AND CONCLUSION: The results suggest that both groups have the immediate effect of decreasing pain and the experimental group obtained a greater improvement than control group in the positive rate of straight leg raising.