%0 Journal Article
%T Osteopathic Manual Therapy in Rural Outpatient Rehabilitation Provides Continued Improvement in Functional Status for Patients with Chronic Non-Specific Back Pain: Results of An Eleven-Year Longitudinal Study
%A Daniel J. Wilson
%A Jennie L. Gorham
%A Shanliang Lui
%A Todd Daniel
%J Open Journal of Therapy and Rehabilitation
%P 20-29
%@ 2332-1830
%D 2025
%I Scientific Research Publishing
%R 10.4236/ojtr.2025.131003
%X <b>Background:</b> Osteopathic manual treatment (OMT) has been reported to have positive initial results for subjects with chronic non-specific back pain in a rural safety-net hospital. However, the effects of OMT following initial treatment have not been reported. <b>Objective: </b>To determine the effects of OMT for patients with chronic non-specific back pain in a rural safety-net hospital setting for an initial post-clinical and follow-up visit. <b>Methods:</b> A longitudinal, rolling admission, eleven-year study of cohort study with a primary complaint of chronic, non-specific back pain that had plateaued in improvement for a minimum of six months. One hundred and fifty-one subjects completed the first two study visits necessary for data collection, and fifty-nine subjects completed the follow-up visit after six months. <b>Results: </b>A two-way, mixed model, repeated measures ANOVA with pre- post1 and post2 (follow-up) treatment as the within variable and sex as the between subject variable showed a significant main effect from pre- to follow-up, (F (1, 57) = 21.171, P &lt; 0.001, <math display='inline' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML'>
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 = 0.426), but not a significant interaction between time and sex (F (1, 57) = 0.279, P &lt; 0.598, <math xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML'>
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 = 0.002). <b>Conclusions: </b>The results of this study support the hypothesis that OMT has a continued benefit in pain reduction and functional improvement beyond the initial treatment period. The rural, safety-net hospital setting made this study unique relative to the sample population.
%K Manual Therapy
%K Low Back Pain
%K Rural
%U http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=140593