OMT and Lower Back Pain

Source: www.jaoa.org/cgi/content/full/104/11_suppl/13S

Low back pain is a common and costly condition in industrialized nations. Consequently, a variety of treatment modalities and providers are available. A widely recognized clinical practice guideline states that spinal manipulation, as potentially provided by various types of practitioners, can be helpful for patients with acute low back problems without radiculopathy when used within the first month of symptoms. The underlying principles of osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) suggest the potential utility of OMT in both acute and chronic low back pain.

This philosophy suggests that OMT may be useful in treating patients with low back pain. Ideally, OMT should be used in the acute stage of low back pain, early in its natural history, to prevent progression. This ideal is consistent with guidelines regarding the use of spinal manipulation for acute low back pain. Nevertheless, the potential interactions between structure, function, environmental demands, and the patient's psychosocial response that may lead to chronicity suggest that an integrative osteopathic approach also may be useful at this stage in the natural history of low back pain.