Spinal Manipulation on Segmental Instability, Pain Sensitivity and Health- related Quality of Life in Chronic Non-specific Low Back Pain

Purpose: Chronic non-specific low back pain (cNSLBP) is quite common as seen every day in clinics.
Therefore, we assessed the effectiveness of spinal manipulation (High-Velocity Low-Amplitude
Thrust) on segmental instability, pain sensitivity and quality of life among patients with chronic nonspecific
low back pain.
Subjects and Methods: This study is a randomized clinical trial with 100 patients aged between 18
and 60 years suffering from non-specific low back pain for at least 3 months of duration. 50 subjects
were randomly assigned to group a received spinal manipulation and 50 subjects to group B received
core stability exercises. After 15 days, scores were measured for segmental instability (centre of foot
pressure) by win track platform, pain sensitivity (pain pressure threshold) by digital algometer and
health-related quality of life by EuroQol questionnaire.
Results: After treatment, spinal manipulation and core stability exercises had improved segmental
instability, increased pressure threshold and enhanced health-related quality of life. However,
significantly better improvement noticed in segmental instability, pressure pain threshold, and quality
of life by spinal manipulation compared to core stability exercises.
Conclusion: The present study indicates that spinal manipulation is more effective than core stability
exercises in chronic non-specific low back pain.