Myofascial Massage in the Treatment of Chronic Low Back Pain

The Myofascial Massage in the Treatment of Chronic Non-specific Low Back Pain: the Experience of Contact

The purpose of the study is to determine the effectiveness of an approach that combines massage therapy with elements of neurocognitive rehabilitation such as motor imagery and the words of the physiotherapist compared to a traditional massage therapy in reducing pain in patients with chronic low back pain (CLBP) and to evaluate if and how the pain reduction is linked to the interoceptive awareness and which is the patient's ability to relax through the measurement of the hearth rate variability (HRV).

Inclusion Criteria:

• Presence of chronic nonspecific low back pain for at least three months
• Subjects aged between 18 and 50 years

Exclusion Criteria:

• Presence of acute low back pain
• Low back pain due to other causes (vertebral fractures, spondylolisthesis, herniated discs, lumbar canal stenosis)
• Disorders of central and/or peripheral nervous system
• Systemic inflammatory disease (eg rheumatoid arthritis)
• Systemic infectious disease
• Neoplastic disease
• Previous Surgery
• Cognitive impairment
• Pregnancy