Manual therapy and exercise therapy in patients with chronic low back pain: a randomized, controlled trial with 1-year follow-up

trial with 1-year follow-up. Objectives. To compare the effect of manual therapy to exercise therapy in sick-listed patients with chronic low back pain (8 wks). Summary and Background Data. The effect of exercise therapy and manual therapy on chronic low back pain with respect to pain, function, and sick leave have been investigated in a number of studies. The results are, how-ever, conflicting. Methods. Patients with chronic low back pain or radic-ular pain sick-listed for more than 8 weeks and less than 6 months were included. A total of 49 patients were ran-domized to either manual therapy (n 27) or to exercise therapy (n 22). Sixteen treatments were given over the course of 2 months. Pain intensity, functional disabilit