Study Summary

Five randomized controlled trials published between 1995 and 2006 comprising of 746 adults with acute or subacute nonspecific low back pain were reviewed. Therapeutic exercise was delivered as a stand-alone intervention, including strengthening, mobility exercises, and aerobic exercises. This was compared with usual care, education, bed rest, or manual therapy. Primary outcomes were pain intensity and disability. Meta-analyses demonstrated no significant overall effect of isolated exercise on pain or disability. However, when compared specifically with usual care, isolated exercise resulted in a small but statistically significant improvement in disability. Overall, the findings suggest that while isolated exercise does not outperform other active conservative interventions, it may offer modest short-term disability benefits compared with usual care alone, supporting its role within—but not as a replacement for—a multimodal management strategy.