Allocation was to
one of two groupsone session of back care education
(education only), or a back care education session
followed by the 12-week USC Spine Exercise
Program (exercise and education). Both the education
session and the exercise program were administered
by “intervention” physical therapists at
participating physical therapy clinics in the greater
Los Angeles area. To ensure the proper implementation
of the intervention, each interventional therapist
participated in eight hours of intervention
training and passed the two-hour patient-based
exam.14 Intervention therapists were required to
complete a one-page-per-day form for each session.
For each participant, the first three forms
were faxed to the trial’s central office to check
completeness and quality