Abstract
Background: Chronic low back pain (CLBP) is the pain that lasts for more than 12 weeks. The causes of low back pain are; the decrease strength of superficial trunk and abdominal musculature, insufficient motor control of the deep trunk muscles. The management strategies are the use of reassu-rance, recommendations to be active, brief awareness, analgesics, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, spinal manipulation therapy, muscle relaxants and weak opioids. In chronic cases exercise therapy have important documented role.
Objectives: To determine the effectiveness of core muscle stabilization exercises with and without lumbar stretching exercises in non-specific low back pain patients.
Methods: This was a quasi-experimental study. Subjects with non specific low back pain fullfilling the predetermined sample selection criteria were divided into two groups randomly. Pre-assessment was done by using numeric pain rating scale (NPRS) and oswestry low back pain disability questionnaire (OLBPDQ) as subjective measure-ments while range of motion and muscle strength as objective measurements. Subjects in group one were treated with lumbar muscle stabilization exercises and the other was treated with core muscle stabilization exercises with lumbar stretching. Each subject was given 12 treatment sessions with 2 sessions per week. Post treatment assessment was done after 3rd and 6th week treatment. Readings were analyzed by using Statistical Package for Social Sciences 21.
Results: The pain intensity was changed from 7.77 +/- 1.02 to 3.50 +/- 1.185 for group 1 and 8.36 +/- 1.136 to 0.68 +/- 0.7163 for group 2. The functional status score also showed more improvement in group 2 from 28.50 +/- 5.990 to 8.45 +/- 2.198 than group 1.
Conclusion: The results proved that core muscle stabilization with lumbar stertching were more effective than core muscle stabilization exercises alone for the management of non-specific low back pian.