Economic Evaluation of Four Treatments for Low-Back Pain: Results from a Randomized Controlled Trial (Medical Care)

The authors compared total outpatient costs of four common treatments for low-back pain (LBP) at 18-months follow-up. This study is the first randomized trial to show higher costs for chiropractic care without producing better clinical outcomes, but our findings are likely to understate the costs of medical care with or without physical therapy because of the absence of pharmaceutical data. Physical therapy provided in combination with medical care and physical modalities provided in combination with chiropractic care do not appear to be cost-effective strategies for treatment of LBP; they produce higher costs without clinically significant improvements in outcome.

Publication Authors:

• Gerald F. Kominski, Ph.D.
• Kevin C. Heslin
• Hal Morgenstern
• Eric L. Hurwitz
• Philip I. Harber