TUESDAY, Oct. 13, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Early physical therapy provides only modest benefits for low back pain, and the discomfort usually subsides by itself, a new study has found.
The study followed more than 200 people with recent-onset low back pain who were randomly assigned to physical therapy or no treatment for the first month after their pain began. Physical therapy included back manipulation and exercise.
Early physical therapy produced a modest improvement in the study participants' ability to function after three months, compared with no physical therapy. However, after a year, no significant difference in function was found between the two groups.
