Diagnosing and treating upper back pain: insights from New Zealand's manipulative physiotherapists and osteopaths.

Background: Manual therapy is routinely used in the management of upper back pain (UBP), a disabling condition. However, the approach to diagnosis and treatment techniques used by manipulative physiotherapists and osteopaths is largely unknown.

Objectives: To explore knowledge about UBP, including diagnosis and treatment, by New Zealand (NZ) osteopaths and manipulative physiotherapists and to investigate differences (if any) in the self-reported approaches to diagnosis and management of UBP between the professions.