Despite an increasing amount of research in low back pain, disability levels have failed to improve for patients in the U.S., and authors of an article in the January edition of Spine are calling for a review of clinical research into low back pain.
Noninvasive interventions such as physical and massage therapy are widely recommended before invasive surgical approaches, but researchers argue there is no consensus on the optimal treatment for the condition.
Recent peer-reviewed publications have demonstrated that there is "very low to moderate quality evidence" for the efficacy of different rehabilitation methods, according to the authors.
Such interventions include Pilates, motor control training, resistance training, aerobic exercises and spinal manipulative therapies.
Researchers said that methodological limitations, inconsistent reporting and inaccurate results in clinical trials prevent physicians from finding clinically decisive conclusions, and they called for a systematic review of clinical trials examining low back pain.