Lumbar radiculopathy (LR) secondary to disc herniation is the most disabling clinical condition amongst people with low back pain. The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of spinal mobilization in the treatment of patients with LR in addition to standard physiotherapy treatment. Materials and methods: The study is an observerblinded randomized clinical trial with concealed allocation and block randomization performed on 24 patients (13 male, 11 female) with age 51.45 ±12.32 years and 3.83 ± 1.12 years of duration of lumbar radiculopathy. Control group received moist heat therapy and intermittent lumbar traction while the experimental group received spinal mobilization (transverse vertebral pressure) in addition to control treatment. Both groups received back care, postural advice and ergonomic advice. Outcome measures of pain on visual analogue scale (VAS), Quebec back pain disability index (QBPDI) and passive straight leg raise (PSLR) were collected pre-, post-3-days treatment and post-6-weeks follow-up. Two-way ANOVA was used with Bonferonni test for post-hoc analysis using SPSS version 11.5 for Windows at 95% confidence interval. Results: There was significant (p<.05) changes observed in all three measures- VAS (1.67 ± 4.08), QBPDI (7.17 ± 4.31) and PSLR (62.50 ± 5.00) in the experimental group at immediate follow-up. The between-group difference in changes for long-term follow-up was not significant. Conclusion: Spinal mobilization in addition to standard physiotherapy comprising of moist heat and lumbar traction produced significant immediate effects on pain, disability and straight leg raise in patients with LR.

Key words: Maitland’s concept, mobilization/manipulation, manual therapy, physiotherapy, rehabilitation, sciatica.