Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 16, 2026
Biomechanical Changes Related to Low Back Pain: An Innovative Tool for Movement Pattern Assessment and Treatment Evaluation in Rehabilitation
Published on: December 13, 2024
Client-centered therapy vs exercise therapy for chronic low back pain: a pilot randomized controlled trial in Brazil
Luciana A C Machado1, Daniel C Azevedo, Maria B Capanema
1Back Pain Research Group, School of Physiotherapy, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. lmac3689@mail.usyd.edu.au
Background:
Psychological interventions targeting maladaptive pain behaviors and depressive symptoms are commonly used in the management of chronic pain.
Objective:
To compare the effectiveness of psychotherapy, based on client-centered therapy, and exercise for patients with chronic nonspecific low back pain (LBP).
Setting:
Outpatient physiotherapy and psychotherapy departments within a Brazilian academic institution.
Design:
Thirty-three patients with chronic nonspecific LBP were recruited and randomized to receive client-centered therapy (N = 16) or exercise (N = 17) for 9 weeks. OUTCOME MEASURES AND DATA ANALYSIS: Pain and disability were measured at baseline, 9 weeks, and 6 months by a 10-cm visual analog scale and by the Brazilian Roland-Morris Questionnaire, respectively. Depression was measured at baseline and 9 weeks by the Beck Depression Inventory. Multiple regression analyses with baseline scores as covariates were used to determine the effects of treatment on outcomes.
Results:
For all outcomes at each time point, the exercise group showed greater improvements than psychotherapy. The difference between groups was statistically and clinically significant for disability at 9 weeks (-4.9 points, 95% CI -9.08 to -0.72).
Conclusions:
This was the first study to investigate the effects of client-centered therapy and exercise for patients with chronic LBP. Our results showed that client-centered therapy is less effective than exercise in reducing disability at short term.
