title: Does the addition of visceral manipulation improve outcomes for patients with low back pain? Rationale and study protocol.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  There has been no randomised controlled trial conducted to investigate the effectiveness of visceral manipulation (VM) for the treatment of low back pain (LBP). The primary aim of this study would be to investigate whether the addition of VM, to a standard physiotherapy treatment regimen, improves pain 6 weeks post treatment commencement in people with LBP. Secondary aims would be to examine the effect of VM on disability and functional outcomes at 2, 6 and 52 weeks post-treatment commencement and pain at 2 and 52 weeks.
  
  
  METHODS
  This paper describes the rationale and design of a randomised controlled trial investigating the addition of VM to a standard physiotherapy treatment algorithm which includes manual therapy, specific exercise and functional exercise prescription. Analysis of data would be carried out by a statistician blinded to group allocation and by intention-to-treat.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health Science, University of Sydney, 75 East St, Lidcombe, NSW 2141, Australia. jpan9982@uni.sydney.edu.au
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Panagopoulos
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hancock
authors.forename: Paulo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ferreira
mesh_terms: D002985:Clinical Protocols; D006801:Humans; D017116:Low Back Pain / Q000209:etiology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D026201:Musculoskeletal Manipulations / Q000379:methods*; D009517:New South Wales; D053591:Referred Pain / Q000150:complications / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D012107:Research Design; D059265:Visceral Pain / Q000150:complications / Q000534:rehabilitation*