Affiliations: [a] Naturel Health Center, Istanbul, Turkey | [b] Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Yıldırım Beyazıt University Medical School, Ankara, Turkey | [c] Ankara Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Training and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey | [d] Atatürk University Horasan Vocational High School, Erzurum, Turkey
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Gökhan Tuna Öztürk, Ankara Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Training and Research Hospital Türkocağı Sokak, No. 3, Sıhhıye, Ankara, Turkey. Tel.: +90 312 310 3230; E-mail: gokhantuna06@gmail.com.
Abstract: BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to explore the effect of neural therapy on pain and functionality in patients with low back pain due to piriformis syndrome. It also aimed to find out any possible links between the clinical changes and demographic features. METHOD: One hundred and two patients were randomly divided into two groups (neural therapy and control). All patients were given stretching exercises for the piriformis muscle. The patients in the neural therapy group additionally received 6 sessions of neural therapy. The visual analog scale (VAS) and Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) were noted before and after the treatment in both groups. RESULTS: The VAS and ODI improved in both groups. However, improvement of the VAS and ODI scores were more obvious in the neural therapy group. The changes of VAS and ODI values did not show any correlations with the demographic features. CONCLUSION: After the neural therapy, the patients with low back pain due to piriformis syndrome may have improvement in both pain and functioning.
Keywords: Neural therapy, piriformis syndrome, local anesthetics, low back pain
