EFFECTS OF CORE STABILIZATION WITH AND WITH-OUT CONVENTIONAL PHYSICAL THERAPY FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF NON-SPECIFIC LOW BACK PAIN

Abstract

Abstract

Objectives:  The purpose of the study was to examine the effects of core stabilization exercises with conven-tional physiotherapy for the management of non-spe-cific low back pain (LBP).

Methodology:  This experimental comparative study was conducted at Department of Physiotherapy, PSRD hospital, Ferozpur Road Lahore. The study involved 40 subjects diagnosed with non-specific LBP with age ranges from 18 - 65 years. Patients were randomly allocated into 2 groups:

Group - A (Experimental Group):  This group was

Shoukat F.,¹

Physical Therapist

Physiotherapy Lecturer at University of Lahore, Pakistan

Ahmed A.,²

Physical Therapist

Assistant Professor at University Institute of Physical Therapy, University of Lahore

Fatima A.,³ Physical Therapist

Physiotherapy Lecturer at University of Lahore, Pakistan

Shoukat H.,⁴

Physical Therapist

Physiotherapy Lecturer at UOL

Fatima M.⁵

Bio - Statistician and Lecturer at UOL

treated with core stabilization exercises and conven-tional physiotherapy.

Group - B (Control Group):  In this group, patients were treated by conventional physiotherapy alone. The outcome measures were pain and physical functional outcomes. Pain was measured by using Visual Analo-gue Scale (VAS) and the physical functional outcomes of patients were measured by using Modified Oswes-tery Disability Questionnaire (MODQ).

Results:  By applying paired t-test in group - A, the
p-values obtained for VAS and MODQ were statisti-cally significant (i.e., p = 0.000, p = 0.000 respecti-vely) while in group - B, the p-values for VAS and MODQ were also found to be significant (p = 0.000, p = 0.000 respectively). By applying repeated measure analysis of variance (ANOVA), p-values were find to be insignificant for VAS (p = 0.09) and MODQ (p = 0.018).

Conclusion:  Both groups showed improvement in severity of pain and functional activity but the group-A that was given core stabilization exercises along with conventional treatment showed same improve-ment in pain and functional status as shown by group-B so any of the intervention can be used to gain better results as both are equally effective.

Keywords: Core stabilization exercises, Conventional physiotherapy, Lower back pain, Visual analogue scale.