Abstract
Objective:
To compare the effectiveness of supervised physical therapy program versus non-supervised on pain, functionality, fear of movement and quality of life in patients with non-specific chronic low back pain.
Design:
A randomized double-blind clinical trial.
Setting:
Clinical outpatient unit; home.
Subjects:
A total of 64 participants with non-specific chronic low back pain were randomized into either supervised exercise group (n = 32) or non-supervised home exercise group (n = 32).
Interventions:
The supervised group was treated with therapy exercises (strengthen lumbopelvic musculature), while the non-supervised received an informative session of the exercises, which were performed un-supervised at home. Both groups received three weekly sessions for eight weeks.
Main Measures:
Pain, disability, fear of movement, quality of life, trunk muscle endurance and trunk anteflexion motion were assessed at baseline, two, and six months of follow-up.
Results:
Although analysis of variance (ANOVA) test showed statistically significant differences between groups for pain (P = 0.028; supervised: 2.5 ± 2.1; non-supervised: 3.5 ± 1.5) and disability for Roland–Morris Disability Questionnaire (P = 0.004; supervised: 3.1 ± 2.2; non-supervised: 5.1 ± 3.0) and for Oswestry Disability Index (P = 0.034; supervised: 14.5 ± 7.1; non-supervised: 19.2 ± 10.0) at 8 weeks immediately posttreatment, there were no differences between the groups in patient-rated pain, functionality, fear of movement and quality of life at six months of follow-up.
Conclusion:
Patients with chronic low back pain who received supervised exercise showed more improvement in both the short and long term in all patient-rated outcomes over the non-supervised group, but the differences were small and not clinically significant.
Keywords
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
