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Complementary treatments include1, 5.
| - Osteopathy |
- Yoga/medication |
| - Chiropractic |
- Naturopathy: herbs and nutritional supplements |
| - Acupuncture |
- Aromatherapy |
Complementary and alternative therapies are popular amongst persistent pain suffers, despite scant evidence of their effectiveness. However, there is some evidence to support manipulation for acute and sub-acute low back pain, whether performed by a physiotherapist or a chiropractor1, 35. As long as these treatments do no harm, they may provide a useful adjunct to other orthodox modalities, but it is important to remember that monotherapy has a poor success rate in treating persistent pain1, 2. There is a danger that some alternative therapies promote patient passivity, and so these methods are best combined with more active involvement such as “paced” physical exercise1, 2, 35.
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