Massage manipulation vs. low back muscle exercise for lumbar intervertebral instability: a preliminary Randomized Clinical Trial

This is a preliminary randomized clinical trial on patients conducted at Wuxi Hospital Affiliated with Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine from September 2015 to December 2016. The patients with intervertebral instability were randomized 1:1 for massage (20 min/day for 6 days) or exercise (3 sessions/day for 15 days). Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) score, Oswestry disability score, and quantitative fluoroscopy (QF) were performed before and after the treatment and at 1 and 3 months thereafter. Improvement rates were noted to be 86.7% and 40.0% in the massage and exercise groups, respectively. Massage group showed significant changes in the JOA and Oswestry disability scores (p 0.05). Changes in the JOA and Oswestry disability scores were more important in the massage group (p 0.05). These results suggest that the massage manipulation could be an appropriate way to treat intervertebral instability.