ArticleFrontiers in medicine2026
Manual therapy combined with core muscle training for chronic non-specific low back pain in sedentary individuals: a study protocol for a single-center randomized controlled trial.
Article in Frontiers in medicine, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Introduction: Chronic non-specific low back pain (CNLBP) represents a major global public health challenge, with sedentary behavior serving as one of its primary risk factors. Although clinical guidelines recommend core muscle training as a first-line intervention, a treatment dilemma often persists in clinical practice: the efficacy of training is constrained by pre-existing biomechanical, neurophysiological, and psychobehavioral barriers. This study proposes a novel two-stage synergistic model, "Passive Preparation and Active Re-education," designed to overcome these bottlenecks and evaluate its effectiveness in a sedentary population. Methods and analysis: This is a single-center, assessor-blinded randomized controlled trial. A total of 88 sedentary individuals with CNLBP will be randomly allocated (1:1) to either a control group receiving core stability exercise alone or an intervention group receiving manual therapy followed by core stability exercise. The program consists of 12 sessions over 4 weeks. Outcome measures will be assessed at baseline, week 2, and week 4, with additional follow-ups at 1 and 3 months. The primary outcome is the change in pain intensity measured by the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) at week 4. Secondary outcomes include disability assessed by the Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire (RMDQ), psychological factors via the Fear-Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire (FABQ), and muscle biomechanical properties measured using MyotonPRO and isokinetic systems. Discussion: The central hypothesis is that the integration of manual therapy and core stability exercise produces a synergistic, non-linear effect rather than a simple additive one. Manual therapy acts as a "passive preparation" to create a time-sensitive "therapeutic window" by reducing pain and muscle hypertonicity. By immediately introducing core stability exercise within this window, the model optimizes target muscle recruitment and movement quality. This comprehensive approach aims to achieve a more efficient reversal of the pathological cycle in sedentary populations. Clinical trial registration: https://itmctr.ccebtcm.org.cn/mgt/, identifier ITMCTR2025002406.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.