Trial reportAnnals of internal medicine2021
Physical Therapy Referral From Primary Care for Acute Back Pain With Sciatica : A Randomized Controlled Trial.
Trial report in Annals of internal medicine, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT02391350 (Management Strategies for Patients With Low Back Pain and Sciatica), which is not on this map. Cited by 22 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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.
Management Strategies for Patients With Low Back Pain and Sciatica
Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 38 citations in OpenAlex.
- Models of care for managing non-specific low back pain.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2025Pooled it
- Are combined conservative interventions effective in reducing pain, disability and/or global rating of pain in people with sciatica with known neuropathic pain mechanisms?European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2024Pooled it
- How effective are physiotherapy interventions in treating people with sciatica? A systematic review and meta-analysis.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2023Pooled it
- Treatment-based classification for low back pain: systematic review with meta-analysis.The Journal of manual & manipulative therapy · 2022Pooled it
- Supported biopsychosocial self-management for back-related leg pain: a randomized feasibility study integrating a whole person perspective.Chiropractic & manual therapies · 2025Trial
- Trial
- Changes in Pain Catastrophizing and Fear-Avoidance Beliefs as Mediators of Early Physical Therapy on Disability and Pain in Acute Low-Back Pain: A Secondary Analysis of a Clinical Trial.Pain medicine (Malden, Mass.) · 2022Trial
- 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
- Acupuncture and Moxibustion Therapy Attenuates Inflammation in CCI-Induced Sciatica by Inhibiting the NF-κB Pathway.Journal of pharmacopuncture · 2026Article
- Predictive factors for care intensification in a no co-pay physical therapy model for musculoskeletal pain.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- Advancing Digital Access to Physical Therapy via Virtual and Extended Reality Technology: Prototype Development and Usability Evaluation.JMIR formative research · 2025Article
- Confidence in providing primary care to patients with low back pain among physiotherapists.BMC primary care · 2025Article
- Relationship between the timing of physical therapy commencement and the duration of work disability: a retrospective cohort analysis of work-related low back pain claims.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Application of Algorithm-Based Treatment Approach to Low Back Pain in the Emergency Department.Physical therapy · 2025Article
- Enhancing Clinical Confidence: Effects of Medical Screening and Differential Diagnosis Training for Low Back Pain.Journal of multidisciplinary healthcare · 2025Article
- Trends of Low Back Pain Research in Older and Working-Age Adults from 1993 to 2023: A Bibliometric Analysis.Journal of pain research · 2023Review
- Article
- A call to action: direct access to physical therapy is highly successful in the US military. When will professional bodies, legislatures, and payors provide the same advantages to all US civilian physical therapists?The Journal of manual & manipulative therapy · 2022Review
- Embedded emergency department physical therapy versus usual care for acute low back pain: a protocol for the NEED-PT randomised trial.BMJ open · 2022Article
- Analysis of Fast-Track Surgery with Pain Care on Postoperative Pain Improvement and Complication Prevention in Perioperative Spine Surgery Patients.Emergency medicine international · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundFew studies have examined primary care management for acute sciatica, including referral to physical therapy.
objectiveTo evaluate whether early referral to physical therapy reduced disability more than usual care (UC) alone for patients with acute sciatica.
designRandomized controlled clinical trial. (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02391350).
setting2 health care systems in Salt Lake City, Utah. PATIENTS: 220 adults aged 18 to 60 years with sciatica of less than 90 days' duration who were making an initial primary care consultation.
interventionAll participants received imaging and medication at the discretion of the primary care provider before enrollment. A total of 110 participants randomly assigned to UC were provided 1 session of education, and 110 participants randomly assigned to early physical therapy (EPT) were provided 1 education session and then referred for 4 weeks of physical therapy, including exercise and manual therapy. MEASUREMENTS: The primary outcome was the Oswestry Disability Index (OSW) score after 6 months. Secondary outcomes were pain intensity, patient-reported treatment success, health care use, and missed workdays.
resultsParticipants in the EPT group had greater improvement from baseline to 6 months for the primary outcome (relative difference, -5.4 points [95% CI, -9.4 to -1.3 points]; LIMITATION: The patients and providers were unblinded, and specific physical therapy interventions responsible for effects could not be determined.
conclusionReferral from primary care to physical therapy for recent-onset sciatica improved disability and other outcomes compared with UC. PRIMARY FUNDING SOURCE: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion 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 OpenQuestion graph.