• María José Díaz Arribas, Mabel Ramos Sánchez, Pedro Pardo Hervás, José López Chicharro, Teresa Angulo Carreré, Paloma Ortega Molina, and Paloma Astasio Arbiza.
• Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain. mjdiazar@med.ucm.es
• Spine. 2009 Jul 1;34(15):1529-38.

Study DesignA simple blind, random controlled clinical trial.ObjectiveTo assess the effectiveness of physiotherapy treatment based on the muscular and articular chains Godelive Denys-Struyf (GDS) method for nonspecific low back pain (LBP) in primary care.Summary Of Background DataDespite a systematic review by the European COST ACTION B13 "Low back pain: guidelines for its management," there are still many unresolved questions regarding the effectiveness of the different physical therapy treatments used for LBP.Setting21 physicians and physiotherapists in 7 Primary Care Centers and 6 researches in the Complutense University of Madrid (Spain).Participants137 patients diagnosed with nonspecific LBP.MethodsThe control group underwent 15 sessions of conventional physiotherapy in Primary Care Centers, and the experimental group received 15 GDS treatment sessions. Pain was evaluated by Visual Analogical Scale (VAS), functional disability by Oswestry questionnaire, and quality of life by the physical and mental components of SF-36 questionnaire. Outcome measures were assessed before treatment (A1), at the end of treatment (A2), and at 3 months (A3), and 6 months (A4) of follow-up.ResultsRepeated measures analysis of variance revealed that at the end of treatment and 3 months later, subjects in both groups showed less pain, reduced functional disability, and an improved quality of life, though improvements were greater in the GDS group.Six months after treatment, patients in the GDS group continued to show reduced pain (VAS(A4-A1) = -3.54, 95% CI: -4.18 to -2.90) while VAS scores in the control group returned to initial values (VAS(A4-A1) = 0.15, 95% CI: -0.36 to 0.67).ConclusionTreatment of nonspecific LBP using the GDS method provides greater improvements in the midterm (6 months) in terms of the pain, functional ability, and quality of life perceived by patients than the conventional treatment based administered in primary care.

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