Many people turn to osteopathy for their back pain. But according to a long study, the practice of osteopathy would have little or no effect on the treatment of low back pain.
Bent over all day in front of a screen or on a construction site, osteopaths are popular with the French. The number of osteopathic practitioners in France increased from 4,000 in 2002 to 31,950 in July 2019, becoming the country with the highest density of osteopaths per capita in the world. But according to a recent study published on March 15 in the medical journal Jama, osteopathic manipulation would not be more effective than a placebo in the treatment of low back pain.
A weak and not clinically relevant effect
The study was conducted by Hôpital Cochin AP-HP in Paris in association with Inserm and the University of Paris, for more than ten years, on nearly 400 patients. According to the AP-HP press release “The participants benefited from six osteopathic manipulation sessions or six placebo manipulation sessions, provided by exclusive osteopaths, at the rate of one session every two weeks, for three months”. The average age of patients is 50 years for a group of 60% women. The patients in this study had suffered from back problems for about 7.5 months. During these ten years of experience, the main evaluation criterion concerns the reduction in the impact of low back pain (back problems) on activities of everyday life. Other criteria also conditioned the results of the study, such as pain or the quality of life of the patients. The results of the survey are final, in only 12 months, the average difference between the two groups (osteopath and placebo), calculated using the Quebec score ranging from 0 point (no resentment) to 100 (resentment at the highest). , is -4.3 points. This means that osteopathic manipulations have no more effect on pain, quality of life or drug consumption.
Rather turn to physiotherapy?
Despite the negative conclusions of this study, scientific data on the treatment of low back pain has been relatively scarce in recent years. But the study now sows doubt in the scientific debate. In France, according to Health Insurance, 93% of people say they already have back pain. For 87%, these lower back pains are localized at the bottom of the spine. In this document produced by Health Insurance, physiotherapy is a great alternative to osteopathy. “The physiotherapist offers supervised exercise programs adapted to the patient’s clinical situation. Practiced in groups or individually, these exercises call for the active participation of the patient who can reproduce them at home. Passive methods should be avoided because they have no effect on the development of low back pain. The physiotherapist reassures the patient and also contributes to his education… “.
