This major review pulled together the best available systematic reviews, clinical guidelines and trial evidence to work out which conditions manual therapy, including manipulation and mobilisation, is well-supported for, across 26 conditions spanning musculoskeletal complaints, chronic headache types and non-musculoskeletal conditions.
What was studied?
The review assessed evidence for manual therapy across 13 musculoskeletal conditions, 4 chronic headache types and 9 non-musculoskeletal conditions, grading the strength of support for each based on existing systematic reviews and guidelines.
What did they find?
For low back pain, manipulation and mobilisation were supported as effective across acute, subacute and chronic presentations. For neck pain, thoracic manipulation was effective for acute and subacute cases, cervical manipulation alone remained inconclusive, and manipulation was also supported for migraine and cervicogenic headache.
Why it matters
This evidence-graded overview is valuable because it does not claim manual therapy helps everything. It states where the evidence is solid, including low back pain and certain headache types, and where it is not.
Why we included it
It illustrates a wider principle in evidence-based practice: being honest about where a treatment does and does not have good support builds more trust than claiming it helps every condition.
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What was studied?
The review assessed evidence for manual therapy across 13 musculoskeletal conditions, 4 chronic headache types and 9 non-musculoskeletal conditions, grading the strength of support for each based on existing systematic reviews and guidelines.
What did they find?
For low back pain, manipulation and mobilisation were supported as effective across acute, subacute and chronic presentations. For neck pain, thoracic manipulation was effective for acute and subacute cases, cervical manipulation alone remained inconclusive, and manipulation was also supported for migraine and cervicogenic headache.
Why it matters
This evidence-graded overview is valuable because it does not claim manual therapy helps everything. It states where the evidence is solid, including low back pain and certain headache types, and where it is not.
Why we included it
It illustrates a wider principle in evidence-based practice: being honest about where a treatment does and does not have good support builds more trust than claiming it helps every condition.