Physiotherapy Management of Chronic Back Pain: Systematic Literature Review

Background

Systematic reviews offer a concise summary of the evidence on treatment effectiveness and it provides guidance to physiotherapists and other clinicians on evidence based management of chronic low back pain. The main objective of this review was to critically appraise systematic reviews of conservative therapies for chronic low back pain.

Methods

Literature searches through various online database. Articles were reviewed by three blinded therapists using three inclusion criteria: 1) chronic low back pain, 2) systematic review, and 3) Randomized Control trails published in English.

Results

The search strategy retrieved 300 titles and abstracts; 54 met inclusion criteria. A review of the full text of these articles excluded an additional 41 articles. Only 13 articles fulfilled the original inclusion criteria and included in this review.

Conclusions

The overall quality of the current systematic reviews was satisfactory. Clinically, the implication is that physiotherapy including physical activities and exercises should be recommended for patients with chronic low back pain. This review outcome will be beneficial to researchers in the field of orthopedics, clinicians and policy makers to provide best quality services for patients with chronic low back pain.