Füzik, T; Píchalová, R; Schur, FKM; Strohalmová, K; Bradbury, K; Al-Abbadey, M; Carnes, D; Dimitrov, BD; Eardley, S; Fawkes, C; Foster, J; Greville-Harris, M; Harvey, JM; Leach, J; Lewith, G; Macpherson, H; Roberts, L; Parry, L; Yardley, L; Bishop, FL; ,
Components other than the active ingredients of treatment can have substantial effects on pain and disability. Such 'non-specific' components include: the therapeutic relationship, the healthcare environment, incidental treatment characteristics, patients' beliefs and practitioners' beliefs. This study aims to: identify the most powerful non-specific treatment components for low back pain (LBP), compare their effects on patient outcomes across orthodox (physiotherapy) and complementary (osteopathy, acupuncture) therapies, test which theoretically derived mechanistic pathways explain the effects of non-specific components and identify similarities and differences between the therapies on patient-practitioner interactions.