ArticleEuropean journal of pain (London, England)2019
Expectations influence treatment outcomes in patients with low back pain. A secondary analysis of data from a randomized clinical trial.
Article in European journal of pain (London, England), 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 32 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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
32 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 70 citations in OpenAlex.
- Exercise Therapy Versus Manual Therapy for the Management of Pain Intensity, Disability, and Physical Function in People With Chronic Low Back Pain: A Systematic Review With Meta-Analysis and Meta-Regression.European journal of pain (London, England) · 2025Pooled it
- Impact of contextual factors on patient outcomes following conservative low back pain treatment: systematic review.Chiropractic & manual therapies · 2022Pooled it
- Verbal framing, rather than measured cognitive-affective variables, is associated with short-term outcomes after spinal manipulation: a secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial.Pain management · 2026Trial
- Demographic and clinical characteristics associated with failure of physical therapy in chronic low back pain: a secondary analysis from a randomized controlled trial.European journal of physical and rehabilitation medicine · 2024Trial
- Trial
- Comparing low and high recovery expectations among those with lumbar spinal stenosis: a network analysis.Pain medicine (Malden, Mass.) · 2026Article
- Ten Years of Lumbar Transforaminal Epidural Steroid Injections in a Tertiary Referral Center: Trends in Clinical Indications and Outcomes.Pain practice : the official journal of World Institute of Pain · 2026Article
- Patient expectations and outcomes of successful scaphoid surgery: a prospective cohort analysis using the trauma expectation and trauma outcome measure (TEFTOM).European journal of orthopaedic surgery & traumatology : orthopedie traumatologie · 2026Article
- Observational
- Reframing Chronicity in Research and Care: A Patient-Informed Framework of Pain Adaptation.Journal of pain research · 2026Article
- Variation of disability courses in Danish chiropractic patients with low back pain: a one-year cohort study with four follow-ups.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2025Article
- Prognostic factors associated with improvement in patients with an episode of non-specific low back pain without radicular syndrome: a prospective observational exploratory study.Chiropractic & manual therapies · 2025Observational
- A surprise induced by a visual-haptic illusion in virtual reality can lead to motor improvement.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Dutch Translation and Validation of the Treatment Expectation Questionnaire (TEX-Q).International journal of women's health · 2025Article
- Patient perspectives on low back pain treatment in primary care: a qualitative study of hopes, expectations, and experiences.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2024Article
- Integrated manual therapies: IASP taskforce viewpoint.Pain reports · 2024Article
- Racial Differences in Movement-Related Appraisals and Pain Behaviors Among Adults With Chronic Low Back Pain.The journal of pain · 2024Article
- A new role for spinal manual therapy and for chiropractic? Part II: strengths and opportunities.Chiropractic & manual therapies · 2024Article
- Article
- Healthcare provider perspectives on integrating a comprehensive spine care model in an academic health system: a cross-sectional survey.BMC health services research · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 8 institutions in 6 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundLow back pain (LBP) is a global public health challenge, which causes high healthcare costs and the highest burden on society in terms of years lived with disability. While patients' expectations for improvement may have effects on LBP treatment outcomes, it remains unclear if psychological profiles modify this relationship. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to investigate if (a) patients' expectations predicted short-term outcome, and (b) psychological profile, pain intensity and self-rated health modified the relationship between expectations and outcome.
methodsData were collected between April 2012 and January 2016 during the inclusion into a randomized controlled trial. Potentially eligible participants were identified through 40 chiropractic clinics located across Sweden. Patients' expectations, psychological profile, pain intensity, activity limitation and self-rated health were collected from patients with recurrent persistent LBP during their first chiropractic visit (n = 593). Subjective improvement was measured at the fourth visit.
resultsPatients with a high expectation of improvement had 58% higher risk to report an improvement at the fourth visit (RR = 1.58, 95% CI: 1.28, 1.95). Controlling for potential confounders only slightly decreased the strength of this association (RR = 1.49, 95% CI: 1.20, 1.86). Baseline pain intensity, psychological profile and self-rated health did not modify the effect of expectation on outcome.
conclusionsBaseline patients' expectations play an important role when predicting LBP treatment outcomes. Clinicians should consider and address patients' expectations at the first visit to best inform prognosis. SIGNIFICANCE: This study confirms the importance of patients' expectations in a clinical setting. Patients' expectations predict the short-term outcome of chiropractic care for LBP. Pain intensity, psychological profile and self-rated health did not modify this relationship.
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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 OpenQuestion graph.