Affiliations: [a] Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, CHA Bundang Medical Center, CHA University, Seongnam City, Korea | [b] Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seongnam City, Korea
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Ju Seok Ryu, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, 82, Gumi-ro 173beon-gil, Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do 463-707, Korea. Tel.: +82 31 787 7733; Fax: +82 31 787 4051; E-mail:jseok337@snu.ac.kr
Abstract: BACKGROUND: There is no evidence that one exercise program is
better than another for rehabilitation of patients with chronic low back
pain (CLBP). OBJECTIVE: To identify the safety and efficacy of a gradable
stabilization exercise protocol in patients with CLBP. METHODS: This study is a retrospective cohort study with 65
patients. The exercise group received the gradable stabilization exercise
protocol for 3 weeks over 6-8 visits, while the control group did not
receive any exercise protocol. All subjects were evaluated with the visual
analog scale (VAS), Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), Fear-Avoidance Belief
Questionnaire (FABQ), the active sit-up test (AST), side support test (SST),
and extensor endurance test (EET). RESULTS: After gradable stabilization exercise, the exercise group
showed significant improvement in VAS, FABQ-W, ODI, AST, SST and EET (p<
0.05). And the exercise group showed better improvement than the control
group in VAS, FABQ-W, ODI, AST, SST and EET (p< 0.05). The rate of treatment
success was 77.1% among patients assigned to the exercise group, as
compared with 12.0% among those assigned to the control group. CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that the gradable stabilization
exercise protocol has the possibility to improve clinical and physical
findings.
Keywords: Low back pain, exercise therapy, questionnaires, physical examination
