Osteopathic manipulation may modestly reduce symptoms for some people with chronic low back pain, a new study suggests.

The treatment involves moving out-of-line joints back into place, relaxing overused muscles and massaging soft tissue, said John Licciardone, a doctor of osteopathic medicine who led the new study.

He considers osteopathic manipulation a complementary treatment – not necessarily the only thing to do for low back pain, but something that can work as an add-on therapy for people who don’t get better with painkillers alone, for example.

“I think the osteopathic approach is different (from chiropractic care, for example) in that it takes a more overarching view, so you wouldn’t necessarily restrict your examination or treatment to the lower back,” Licciardone, from the University of North Texas Health Science Centre in Fort Worth, said.

He and his colleagues wanted to test the effectiveness of both osteopathic manipulation and ultrasound therapy – a technique sometimes used by physical therapists on soft tissue injuries.