Comparison of Bowen Therapy and McGill Stabilization Exercises on Pain, Range of Motion, and Disability in Chronic Low Back Pain: A Randomized Controlled Trial

This is a single-center, parallel-group, randomized controlled trial conducted at Sehat Medical Complex. A total of 100 participants aged 25-55 years with chronic nonspecific low back pain of more than three months' duration will be randomly allocated to one of two treatment groups using a computer-generated randomization sequence.

Participants in the experimental group will receive Bowen Therapy combined with the McGill stabilization exercise program, while participants in the comparator group will receive Bowen Therapy alone. Both groups will receive standard physiotherapy modalities, including a 10-minute moist hot pack and transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) before each treatment session. The intervention period will last six weeks, with treatment sessions conducted three times per week.

Outcome assessments will be performed at baseline and at Weeks 2, 4, and 6. Pain intensity will be measured using the Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NPRS), lumbar range of motion will be assessed using a bubble inclinometer, and functional disability will be evaluated using the Modified Oswestry Disability Index (MODI). All assessments will be performed by the same trained physiotherapist to ensure measurement consistency.

The study has been approved by the Institutional Review Board of Sehat Medical Complex (Approval No. IREB-UOL-SMC/001-26/2024) and will be conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Written informed consent will be obtained from all participants before enrollment. Statistical analysis will be performed using SPSS version 25.0. Descriptive statistics will summarize baseline characteristics, the Shapiro-Wilk test will assess data normality, and repeated-measures analysis of variance (RM-ANOVA) will be used to evaluate changes between groups over time. Statistical significance will be set at p < 0.05.