Sixty patients with chronic, low back pain (>6 months) were randomized to receive either 12 treatments of sham adjustments over a one-month period; 12 treatments consisting of spinal adjustments over a one-month period; or 12 treatments over a one-month period, including maintenance spinal adjustments every two weeks for the following nine months. Patients were evaluated by pain and disability scores, generic health status, and back-specific patient satisfaction before, during, and after treatments for ten months. The maintenance group showed greater improvement in pain and disability scores at the 10-month evaluation. In the spinal adjustment group without maintenance treatment, the mean pain and disability scores returned to near their pre-treatment levels by the end of the study.
Spine, August 2011