Introduction: At the best knowledge of our survey, this is the first study to investigate the effect of Persian massage on pain, disability, and quality of life in radicular chronic low back pain, compared with conventional treatments. Methods: Design: a parallel randomized controlled trial. Setting: Massage clinic at Imam Reza Hospital, Mashhad, Iran. Participants: Forty eligible patients with a history of > 12 weeks duration of radicular pain below the knee [a sharp shooting pain that starts in the back and goes into one or both legs, as the main problem] that were referred to the pain clinic by a neurosurgeon and were selected randomly as well as placed in two groups of 20 into intervention group (n=20) and a control group (n=20). Intervention: Two trained physicians were assigned to participants in the intervention group: using Persian massage three times a week with Acetaminophen (325 mg qid), and in the control group: Acetaminophen was consumed (325 mg qid) for four weeks. Measurement: The Visual Analogue Scale assessed pain; Morris-Roland disability questionnaire assessed disability and World Health Organization questionnaire in quality of Life (brief form) assessed the quality of life improvement. Questionnaires were measured at baseline, after one and three months. Results: Persian massage led to statistically significant relief in pain after one month (p=0.03) as well as improvement in disability (p<0.05) and psychological quality of life (p= 0.03) after one and three months. Conclusions: These findings suggest that performing Persian massage on male patients with radicular chronic low back pain could be of considerable importance to health professionals.
