In 2021, Fulvio Dal Farra and colleagues published a systematic review and meta-analysis in Complementary Therapies in Medicine on the effectiveness of osteopathic interventions for chronic non-specific low back pain (NS-CLBP). The paper aims to complement earlier research on OMT and low back pain (Licciardone et al., 2005; Franke et al., 2014). In that, 10 RCTs were assessed that comprised 1160 patients in total. The results show that osteopathic interventions improve pain and functionality outcomes in patients with NS-CLBP compared to control interventions (active, sham, or no intervention control). Furthermore, myofascial release reduced pain more effectively than other osteopathic modalities. Thus, this study confirms and strengthens the body of evidence on the effectiveness of osteopathic interventions in reducing pain levels and improving functional status in patients with NS-CLBP in the short-term. In the future, high-quality RCTs should be conducted that compare different osteopathic modalities.
Dal Farra, F., Risio, R. G., Vismara, L., Bergna, A., 2021. Effectiveness of osteopathic interventions in chronic non-specific low back pain: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Complementary Therapies in Medicine, 56(102616).
