Do adverse events after manual therapy for back and/or neck pain have an impact on the chance to recover? A cohort study

Table 1 Baseline characteristics of study participants stratified by AE after first three visits, mean (n = 771)

	All		No AE (NRS < 1) (n = 182, 24%)		Mild AE (NRS 1–3) (n = 401, 52%)		Moderate AE (NRS ≥4) (n = 188, 24%)
Characteristics	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Mean age (SD)	36 (12)		36 (12)		36 (12)		36 (12)
Gender
Women	545	71	106	58	285	71	154	82
Men	226	29	76	42	116	29	34	18
Painful area
Back	255	33	79	43	123	31	53	28
Neck	422	55	83	46	219	55	120	64
Back/Neck	94	12	20	11	59	15	15	8
Duration of pain
Acute/subacute (≤3 months)	488	63	113	62	260	65	115	61
Chronic (> 3 months)	283	37	69	32	141	35	73	39
Previous similar complaints	599	78	137	75	312	78	150	80
Pain at baseline (SD)^a	771		5 (2)		5 (2)		6 (2)
Disability at baseline (SD)^b	771		2 (2)		2 (2)		3 (2)
Recovery expectations (SD)^c	771		6 (3)		6 (3)		6 (3)
General health
Good or better	731	95	173	95	379	95	179	95
Fair	40	5	9	5	22	6	8	4.5
Poor	1	< 1	0	0	0	0	1	0.5
Education
Elementary school 1–9 y	26	3	8	4	10	3	8	4
High school 10–12 y	268	35	70	39	128	32	70	37
University 13–15 y	375	49	80	44	205	51	59	48
Higher academic education ≥16 y	102	13	24	13	58	15	20	11
Distress (SD)^d			5 (1)		5 (1)		5 (1)
Daily smoking	105	14	18	10	56	14	31	17
RCT group
NMT	244	32	62	34	121	30	61	32
NMT- no manipulation	265	34	53	29	148	37	64	34
NMT- no stretching	262	34	67	37	132	33	63	34

Abbreviations: AE adverse events, NRS, number rating scale, SD standard deviation, RCT randomized controlled trial, NMT Naprapathic manual therapy
^aAverage of three questions from (0 = no pain and 10 = worse possible pain) how strong is the pain right now, intensity of the worst pain in the last four weeks and average of the last four weeks
^bAverage of three questions from (0 = had no effect on function and 10 = impossible to perform activities) affection to function in the last four weeks, affection to social activities and affection to work
^cExpectation of asymptomatic pain area in seven weeks (0 = not at all and 10 = very likely)
^d Have you felt gloomy and sad in the last four weeks (1 = all the time and 6 = not at all)

ISSN: 2045-709X