Spinal manipulative therapy

Spinal manipulative therapy (SMT) is an intervention that is widely practiced by a variety of health care professionals worldwide. The effectiveness of this form of therapy for the management of chronic low-back pain has come under dispute. 

The results of this Cochrane review demonstrate that SMT appears to be as effective as other common therapies prescribed for chronic low-back pain, such as, exercise therapy, standard medical care or physiotherapy. However, it is less clear how it compares to inert interventions or sham (placebo) treatment because there are only a few studies, typically with a high risk of bias, which investigated these factors. Approximately two thirds of the studies had a high risk of bias, which means we cannot be completely confident with their results. Furthermore, no serious complications were observed with SMT. In summary, SMT appears to be no better or worse than other existing therapies for patients with chronic low-back pain > from Rubinstein et al.; The Cochrane Library - Cochrane Back Group (2012) DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD008112.pub2. All rights reserved to The Cochrane Collaboration. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.