Exploring integrative medicine for back and neck pain - a pragmatic randomised clinical pilot trial

Table 2 Change in SF-36, numerical rating scales and days in pain from baseline to follow-up after 16 weeks

	Conventional care		Integrative care		Conventional vs. integrative
Outcome measure	Mean (SD)	N	Mean (SD)	N	Diff.	d	P
Physical functioning*	11.0 (16.8)	27	9.1 (13.2)	35	1.9	0,09	0.920
Role physical*	28.7 (46.9)	27	29.2 (39.4)	36	-0.5	-0,01	0.875
Bodily pain*	19.1 (22.5)	27	21.2 (23.4)	36	-2.1	-0,12	0.813
General health*	7.5 (21.0)	26	6.1 (10.8)	36	1.4	0,06	0.502
Vitality*	12.1 (16.6)	27	19.4 (21.8)	35	-7.3	-0,34	0.237
Social functioning*	13.4 (21.9)	27	14.6 (21.0)	36	-1.2	-0,04	0.703
Role emotional*	16.1 (44.7)	27	8.3 (48.1)	36	7.7	0,18	0.872
Mental health*	5.6 (18.9)	27	7.3 (16.0)	35	-1.7	-0,09	0.326
Disability (a)	-1.2 (3.5)	26	-1.9 (2.9)	36	0.7	0,23	0.458
Stress (b)	0.2 (2.8)	26	-0.9 (2.2)	36	1.2	0,43	0.090
Well-being (c)	1.5 (2.1)	26	1.5 (2.1)	36	-0.1	-0,03	0.873
Days with pain (d)	-3.1 (4.7)	26	-3.8 (5.5)	35	0.7	0,19	0.595

*SF-36 health domains, min-max score from 0 (worst) to 100 (best). Numerical rating scales targeting; (a) disability in activities of daily living due to back/neck pain; (b) perceived stress; (c) well-being. The anchors for the numerical ratings scales were 0 (nothing) to 10 (maximum) levels of disability, stress and well-being respectively. (d) Days with pain over the last two weeks (0-14). SD, standard deviation. Diff, clinical difference between groups in outcome change over time (suggested magnitude for SF-36; 2 small, 5 clinically relevant, 10 moderate, 20 large [40, 41]). d, effect size by Cohen's d (0.20 small, 0.50 moderate and 0.80 large [42]). Statistical analyses by Mann-Whitney (numerical rating scales and SF-36) and independent two sample t-tests (days with pain).

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