Amount of health care and self-care following a randomized clinical trial comparing flexion-distraction with exercise program for chronic low back pain

Amount of health care and self-care following a randomized clinical trial comparing flexion-distraction with exercise program for chronic low back pain
Received December 13, 2005; Accepted August 24, 2006.
Published online 2006 August 24
Jerrilyn A Cambron,1,2 M Ram Gudavalli,1,3 Marion McGregor,4 James Jedlicka,5 Michael Keenum,6 Alexander J Ghanayem,7,8 Avinash G Patwardhan,7,8 and Sylvia E Furner2
Chiropractic & Osteopathy
PubMed Central

1Department of Research, National University of Health Sciences, Lombard IL, USA
2Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA
3Palmer Center for Chiropractic Research, Palmer College of Chiropractic, Davenport IA, USA
4Independent Consultant, Plano TX, USA
5Department of Chiropractic Practice, National University of Health Sciences, Lombard IL, USA
6Orthosport Physical Therapy, Inc., Chicago IL, USA
7Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Rehabilitation, Loyola University- Stritch School of Medicine, Maywood IL, USA
8Edward Hines Jr. Veterans Affairs Hospital, Hines IL, USA
Corresponding author.
Jerrilyn A Cambron: jcambron@nuhs.edu; M Ram Gudavalli: gudavalli_r@palmer.edu; Marion McGregor: mbtmcgregor@msn.com; James Jedlicka: jjedlicka@nuhs.edu; Michael Keenum: migmad86@aol.com; Alexander J Ghanayem: aghanay@lumc.edu; Avinash G Patwardhan: apatwar@lumc.edu; Sylvia E Furner: sefurner@uic.edu

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract
Background
Previous clinical trials have assessed the percentage of participants who utilized further health care after a period of conservative care for low back pain, however no chiropractic clinical trial has determined the total amount of care during this time and any differences based on assigned treatment group. The objective of this clinical trial follow-up was to assess if there was a difference in the total number of office visits for low back pain over one year after a four week clinical trial of either a form of physical therapy (Exercise Program) or a form of chiropractic care (Flexion Distraction) for chronic low back pain.

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