title: Basic body awareness therapy or exercise therapy for the treatment of chronic whiplash associated disorders: a randomized comparative clinical trial.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Chronic whiplash-associated disorders (WAD) incur both costs and suffering. Treatments that can relieve chronic WAD are therefore needed. Exercise therapy (ET) has been shown to provide pain relief. Another often used treatment for chronic pain in Scandinavia is basic body awareness therapy (BAT). We compared the effectiveness of 10 weeks of twice-weekly, 90-min sessions of either ET or BAT in a randomized comparative trial.
  
  
  METHODS
  We recruited 113 patients suffering from chronic WAD grades I-III and several years' duration of symptoms in a primary health care setting. 57 were allocated to ET and 56 to BAT. Primary outcome measures were Neck Disability Index and SF-36 v.2.
  
  
  RESULTS
  From baseline to post-treatment, the BAT group increased their physical functioning (median 5, IQR = 15) more than the ET group (median = 0, IQR = 15), p = 0.032, effect size -0.54. Three months after the end of treatment, the BAT group had less bodily pain (m = 17.5, 95% CI 6.9-17.6) than the ET group (m = 4.9, 95% CI -0.1 to 9.8), p = 0.044, effect size -0.4. The BAT group had also increased their social functioning (m = 13.3, 95% CI 6.6-19.9) more than the ET group (m = 3.5, 95% CI -3 to 9.9), p = 0.037, effect size -0.41. No statistically significant differences between groups were found for the change of other outcomes. No serious adverse effects were found in either groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present trial indicates that BAT led to greater improvements than ET for the patients with chronic WAD. IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILATION: Chronic whiplash-associated disorders are disabling and incur great costs to society often through inability to work. Exercise therapy (ET) may alleviate symptoms of chronic WAD. Basic body awareness therapy (BAT) is often a component of multimodal pain rehabilitation programs. In this randomized comparative trial, BAT increased physical functioning and led to greater pain reduction and social functioning 3 months after the end of treatment.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Occupational and Physical Therapy , Sahlgrenska University Hospital , Gothenburg , Sweden .|b Research and Development Unit , Primary Health Care and Dental Care , Southern Älvsborg County, Region Västra Götaland , Sweden .|c Department of Public Health and Community Medicine , Institute of Medicine, The Sahlgrenska Academy, Göteborg University , Gothenburg , Sweden , and.
authors.forename: Aris
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Seferiadis
authors.affiliation: b Research and Development Unit , Primary Health Care and Dental Care , Southern Älvsborg County, Region Västra Götaland , Sweden .
authors.forename: Pernilla
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ohlin
authors.affiliation: b Research and Development Unit , Primary Health Care and Dental Care , Southern Älvsborg County, Region Västra Götaland , Sweden .
authors.forename: Annika
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Billhult
authors.affiliation: b Research and Development Unit , Primary Health Care and Dental Care , Southern Älvsborg County, Region Västra Götaland , Sweden .|c Department of Public Health and Community Medicine , Institute of Medicine, The Sahlgrenska Academy, Göteborg University , Gothenburg , Sweden , and.|d Cairns Clinical School, School of Medicine and Dentistry, James Cook University , Townsville , QLD , Australia.
authors.forename: Ronny
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gunnarsson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002908:Chronic Disease; D059350:Chronic Pain / Q000628:therapy; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D005081:Exercise Therapy / Q000009:adverse effects*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019547:Neck Pain / Q000628:therapy*; D059408:Pain Management; D010147:Pain Measurement; D026741:Physical Therapy Modalities / Q000009:adverse effects*; D013548:Sweden; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014911:Whiplash Injuries / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Body awareness therapy; Neck Disability Index; SF-36; exercise; whiplash