Sehrish Ali, Abdul Ghafoor Sajjad, Keramat Ullah Keramat, Haider Darian.
Chronic low back pain; effects of the lumbar stabilization exercise on pain, range of motion and functional disability in the management.
Professional Med J Jan ;24(4):526-33.

Background: Worldwide prevalence of chronic low back pain is 19.6% in those aged between 20-59 years and more prevalent in women. Routine physiotherapy appears to be effective in reducing pain and improving functional outcome in chronic low back pain patients. Lumbar stabilization exercises are trending in the management of chronic low back pain though it is not known whether addition of these exercises produce better results as compared to routine physiotherapy alone. Objectives: The objective of this study was to determine the effect of the lumbar stabilization exercises on pain, ROM and functional disability in the management of chronic low back pain. A randomized control trial. Period: February 2016 to July 2016. Setting: Rehab & Research Center, Pakistan Railway General Hospital. Methodology: 42 chronic low back pain patients (02 drop outs, one from each group). The participants were recruited through purposive sampling technique. Random allocation was done through coin toss method into two groups Lumbar Stabilization Exercise (LSE) group (n=20) and Conventional Physiotherapy (CPT) group (n=20). Tools used to collect data were NPRS, Modified ODI, Goniometer (Lumbar Flexion, Extension and Side bendings) and MMT (Trunk Flexors and Extensors). The data was analyzed (n=40) at baseline and later after 2 weeks of intervention (8 sessions) on IBM SPSS- 20. Results: 28 females and 12 males participated in the study with mean age of 38.88 ±12.69. After 02 weeks of intervention both treatment groups showed improvement in decreasing pain and improving functional status. LSE group had significant gains in NPRS p=0.001, Modified ODI p=0.001, ROM Extension p= 0.027, ROM Right side bend p= 0.024 and MMT Flexion p= 0.031 as compared to CPT group. Conclusion: Lumbar stabilization exercises in addition to conventional physiotherapy are found more effective in chronic low back pain management as compared to conventional physiotherapy alone in terms of reducing pain and functional disability.

PakMediNet -Pakistan's largest Database of Pakistani Medical Journals - http://www.pakmedinet.com