Structural Integration for Chronic Low Back Pain

Chronic, non-specific low back pain is among the most burdensome health problems in both prevalence and cost of care. Up to one third of acute low back pain cases may become chronic and lead to disability. A large fraction of chronic cases are absent of findings of well-understood causes, i.e. neoplastic, infectious or inflammatory conditions, or nerve compression, and are generally designated as "uncomplicated," "non-specific," or "mechanical." Usual care typically includes oral and injected medication, physical therapy and exercise. Therapeutic response is difficult to predict and many outcomes are unsatisfactory, with high rates of relapse.

Structural Integration (SI) is an alternative method of manual therapy and somato-sensory training that purports to improve the biomechanical functioning of the body as a whole rather than to focus on the treatment of specific symptoms. SI is delivered in a series of ten treatments, referred to as "the Ten Series," each of approximately one hour in duration. The Ten Series protocol includes manipulation of all major joints and anatomical segments. Each of the ten sessions aims to achieve a different, specified set of biomechanical changes which are regarded as contributing to the progressive approximation of specific ideals of posture and movement.

Forty (40) subjects will be recruited from among individuals entering treatment for chronic low back pain at outpatient rehabilitation clinics in the Boston area. Following baseline measures, subjects will be randomized with equal probability (50/50) to usual care alone versus usual care plus ten sessions of SI. SI treatment will be provided by qualified SI therapists at their private practice offices. They will be supervised on a monthly basis by a co-investigator with extensive prior experience in the clinical practice of SI.

Data will be collected at baseline, end-of-treatment, and endpoint. Baseline data will be collected prior to the subject's first treatment appointment, and endpoint data will be collected from all subjects at 20 weeks post-baseline. End-of-treatment measures will be conducted during the week following each subject's completion of their assigned treatment arm. Consequently, the average time elapsed between baseline and end-of-treatment will differ across the two treatment arms, because of different amounts of time allowed for the completion of usual care alone (3-7 weeks) versus usual care plus SI (10-15) weeks.

Analysis relevant to the primary aim of the study will be conducted as follows: The demographic characteristics of candidates referred, subjects enrolled, and dropouts will described. Descriptive statistics, both aggregate and per treatment arm, will be computed for data on retention and compliance with treatment, and on the use of concurrent medications. Each adverse events will be characterized by subject demographics and by treatment arm, and will also be rated for severity, likelihood of relation to the study, and expected versus unexpected.

Analysis relevant to the secondary aim of the study will be conducted as follows: Baseline to endpoint changes in therapeutic outcomes, cognitive-behavioral measures and blood assay values will be compared across treatment arms using appropriate statistical tests. Baseline to endpoint changes in standing balance and gait parameters will be analyzed using methods that are standard in the current literature. In addition to appropriate statistical tests, these include the visual inspection of graphic displays of the phase relationships between rotational movements of body segments during gait. The association between each mechanistic parameter - cognitive-behavioral, biomechanical, and blood biomarkers - and the primary and secondary therapeutic outcomes will be explored per treatment arm and in aggregate.

Data on changes between baseline and end-of-treatment will be subject to exploratory analysis within treatment arms only. Comparison across arms is inappropriate because of systematic variation in the average duration of treatment in usual care alone (estimated at 5 weeks) versus usual care plus SI (estimated at 12.5 weeks). Analysis will include the exploration of associations between changes in therapeutic outcomes on one hand, and mechanistic parameters on the other, but only within each treatment arm.