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

Background: 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. Objective: 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. Methods: 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. Results: 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 < 0.001, ${\eta }_P^2$ = 0.426), but not a significant interaction between time and sex (F (1, 57) = 0.279, P < 0.598, ${\eta }_P^2$ = 0.002). Conclusions: 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.