Table 1

Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Inclusion criteria	Exclusion criteria
• 12 to 18 years old	• Spinal manipulative therapy or exercise therapy in the previous month
• Either:
◦ Sub-acute recurrent non-specific low back pain defined as current episode of 2 to 12 weeks duration AND an additional 2 week episode of back pain in the past year	• Ongoing treatment for low back pain by other health care providers
	• Other serious physical or mental health conditions (e.g., uncontrolled diabetes, cancer)
OR	• Contraindications to study treatments including acute disc herniation, clinical
◦ Chronic non-specific low back pain defined as a current episode ≥ 12 weeks duration
	• instability of the lumbar spine, or inflammatory arthritides
• Low back pain intensity ≥ 3 on 0 to 10 numerical rating scale	• Benign joint hypermobility syndrome
• Stable prescription medication plan (no changes to prescription medications that affect musculoskeletal pain in the previous month)