Affiliations: [a] Department of Exercise Sciences, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, USA | [b] Community College of Rhode Island, Newport, RI, USA
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Ulrike H. Mitchell, Department of Exercise Sciences, Brigham Young University, 106 Smith Fieldhouse, Provo 84602, UT, USA. Tel.: +1 801 422 3344; Fax: +1 801 422 0555; E-mail: rike_mitchell@byu.edu.
Abstract: BACKGROUND: Between 2005 and 2015 significant changes in the clinical decision making paradigm for the treatment of spinal instability occurred. This was largely motivated by a clinical prediction rule (CPR) derivation study that was developed to specifically identify patients with low back pain who are more likely to respond positively to lumbar stabilization exercises. OBJECTIVE: This is a narrative literature review on the recent advances physiotherapy has made in the treatment of clinical spinal instability. METHODS: Literature discussing the conservative treatment of lumbar spinal instability published from 2005–2015 was identified with electronic searches of PubMed (MEDLINE) Advanced search, Web of Science, BIOSIS Previews, MEDLINE (EBSCO), SportDISCUS (EBSCO), CINAHL (EBSCO), PEDro, Scopus and Cochrane and reviewed. RESULTS: Five systematic reviews, 2 with meta-analyses, and 1 systematic review on the quality of systematic reviews were found. There seems to be some benefit from specific stabilization exercise programs in regards to pain reduction, but they might not be more effective than other forms of exercise. The currently existing CPR for stabilization exercises is not far enough developed to use in clinical practice and is not validated as of yet. CONCLUSION: Stabilization exercises seem to decrease chronic low back pain, although it is not clear that this pain has to be caused by clinical spinal instability. Caution should be exercised when using CPRs in the clinic; they are not meant to be strict treatment guidelines, but rather a tool that helps facilitate clinical decision-making.
