• Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Science
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.268-277
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• 2023

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of Pilates breathing exercises on functional disability and lumbar flexibility in patients with non-specific chronic low back pain. Design: A randomized controlled trial. Methods: 30 patients with non-specific low back pain were selected and classified into an experimental group (n=15) and a control group (n=15). Both groups were assessed for functional disability using the Oswestry Disability Index and flexibility of the lumbar spine using the modified-modified Schober test before and after the intervention. The intervention was applied twice a week for four weeks. The experimental group performed Pilates breathing exercises followed by spinal stabilization exercises, while the control group only performed spinal stabilization exercises. Results: Both groups showed significant improvements in functional disability and lumbar flexibility after the intervention. However, when comparing between the two groups, the experimental group showed a more significant effect than the control group. Conclusions: The combination of Pilates breathing exercises and spinal stabilization exercises can be considered an effective approach to improve low back pain and prevent chronic pain in patients with non-specific chronic low back pain.

• Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Science
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2024

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of the thoracic mobility exercise program on pain, proprioception, and static balance ability in patients with non-specific chronic low back pain. Design: Randomized controlled trial design. Methods: Thirty patients with non-specific chronic low back pain participated in this study. The participants were randomized into the thoracic mobility exercise group (n=15) and the lumbar stabilization exercise group (n=15). Both groups received traditional physical therapy for 30 minutes per session. In addition, the thoracic mobility exercise group and the lumbar stabilization exercise group each exercise 3 times a week for 6 weeks. All participants were measured visual analog scale, proprioception test, and static balance ability before and after the intervention. Results: After 6 weeks of interventions, the thoracic mobility exercise group showed greater improvement in visual analog scale, proprioception test, and static balance ability than the LSE group (p<0.05). Further, the thoracic mobility exercise group had significant Enhancements in all measured variables compared to the baselinetest (p<0.05). However, the lumbar stabilization exercise group had significant improvement only visual analog scale, and static balance ability compared to the baselinetest (p<0.05). Conclusions: Our investigation demonstrates that the thoracic mobility exercise is an effective intervention method for improving pain, proprioception, and static balance ability in patients with non-specific chronic low back pain.

• Annals of Clinical Neurophysiology
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2012

Low back pain is a common clinical condition with heterogeneous causes and challenges to manage. High prevalence and numerous assessments result in an enormous socioeconomic burden. Clinician must conduct efficient and stepwise evaluation process to rule out serious spinal pathology, neurologic involvement, and identify risk factors for chronicity. The process can be achieved through the focused history taking and physical examination. Certain factors related to serious spinal pathology include age (>50 years), trauma, unexplained fever, recent urinary or skin infection, unrelenting night or rest pain, unexplained weight loss, osteoporosis, immunosuppression, steroid use, and widespread neurological symptoms. In non-specific low back pain, diagnostic imaging and laboratory studies are often unnecessary and can disturb an appropriate management. For the management of acute low back pain, patient education and medication such as acetaminophen, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and muscle relaxants are recommended. For chronic low back pain, behavior therapy, back exercise, and spinal manipulation are beneficial. The evidence based approach could improve success rate of management, result in prevention of acute low back pain from being chronic intractable pain.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.251-255
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• 2019

Background: Low-level laser therapy (LLLT) including laser acupuncture (LA) has been widely used to treat chronic low back pain (CLBP), but there is no critically appraised evidence of the potential benefits. The purpose of this protocol for a systematic review was to enable the evaluation of the effectiveness of LLLT including LA for non-specific CLBP to identify the potential benefits. Methods: The electronic databases MEDLINE (PubMed), Embase (Ovid), the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), Korean medical databases (KoreaMed, KMBASE, KISS, NDSL, KISTI, OASIS), the Chinese database (CNKI), and Japanese databases (CiNII, J-STAGE) are recommended. Results: Randomized controlled trials in LLLT including LA should be included in the searches. All data synthesis and subgroup analyses should be conducted using a Review Manager software. The Cochrane risk of bias tool can be used to evaluate methodological quality of the studies. A risk ratio or mean difference with a 95% confidence interval will show the effects of LLLT including LA. Conclusion: The primary outcome would be pain intensity and functional status/disability due to low back pain. The secondary outcome would be a global measurement of recovery or improvement, quality of life and adverse event.

• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.52-61
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• 2023

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the effect of a combined functional intervention program on the pain-related questionnaire, the erector spinae contractile properties, and trunk extensor strength of prime-aged females with non-specific chronic low back pain. Method: 16 (female: 16) prime-aged subjects (age: 60.88 ± 6.09 years, height: 158.16 ± 5.58 cm, weight: 59.05 ± 9.44 kg) participated in this study. Results: Except for Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia all pain-related questionnaires revealed a significant decrease after the intervention program (p<.001). Tensiomyography of the erector spinae revealed a significant post-intervention program increase in the maximum radial displacement (p<.05) and velocity of contraction (p<.05), however, there wasn't a significant post-intervention program change in the contraction time. Additionally, Trunk extensor strength showed a significant increase post-intervention program (p<.001). Conclusion: Our results indicated that the combined functional intervention program positively changed pain-related questionnaires and reduced erector spinae muscle stiffness, increasing the velocity of erector spinae contraction. Additionally, improved the trunk extensor strength.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.199-205
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• 2018

Background: Sleep disturbance and depression are becoming more recognized as important symptoms among individuals with chronic low back pain. This study evaluated the effect of stabilization exercise on pain-related disability, sleep disturbance and the psychological status of patients with non-specific chronic low back pain (NSCLBP). Methods: A total of 26 patients (M/F = 17/9) with NSCLBP with a mean age of $50.0{\pm}15.5$ took part in this study. Participants were recruited from selected hospitals in Lagos state. Ethical approval was sought and obtained from the health research and ethics committee of Lagos University Teaching Hospital Idi-araba, Lagos, Nigeria. Participants performed stabilization exercise for eight weeks consecutively and were assessed for pain-related disability, anxiety, depression, and sleep disturbance using the pain-disability index, hospital anxiety and depression scale, and the insomnia severity index at baseline, the 4th week, and the 8th week, postintervention. Results: The participants studied recorded significant reduction in pain-related disability (P = 0.001). There was also improvement in the sleep quality (P = 0.001), depression level (P = 0.001), and anxiety level (P = 0.001), post intervention. Conclusions: This study revealed that stabilization exercise is very useful in the management of sleep disturbance, pain-related disability, depression, and anxiety in NSCLBP patients.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapy
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.50-56
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• 2010

Purpose : To evaluate effects of joint mobilization on the range of motion of chronic low back pain patients. Methods : The subjects were consisted of sixty patients who had non specific chronic low back pain(10 females. 10 males; mean aged 36.5). All subjects received modalities treatment with therapeutic massage for 10minutes and joint mobilization or manipulation for 10minutes per day and three times a week during 4 weeks period. The Multilevel Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire(MR-MDQ) was used to measure functional disability level. Visual Analogue Scale(VAS) was used to measure subjective pain level. Remodified Schober test(RST) was used to measure forward flexion range of motion of lumbar segment. Finger-to-Floor test(F-T-FT) was used to measure forward flexion range of motion of full spine of low back pain patients. All measurements of each patients were measured at pre-treatment and 4 week post-treatment. Results : The MR-MDQ, VAS, RCT and F-T-FT were significantly different within-subjects(p<.05), Conclusion : The manual therapy included therapeutic massage and joint mobilization found that improved chronic low back pain patients. Further studies are needed to including more subjects on long-term outcomes.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.56 no.6
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• pp.482-487
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• 2014

Objective : We assessed the life-time prevalence (LTP) of chronic low back pain (LBP) in young Korean males. We also evaluated the relationship between lumbar spinal lesions and their health related quality-of-life (HRQOL). Methods : A cross-sectional, self-reported survey was conducted in Korean males (aged 19-year-old) who underwent physical examinations for the conscript. We examined 3331 examinees in November 2014. We included 2411 subjects, who accepted to participate this study without any comorbidities. We interviewed using simple binary questions for their LBP experience and chronicity. HRQOL was assessed by Short-Form Health-Survey-36 (SF-36) in chronic LBP and healthy control groups. Radiological assessment was performed in chronic LBP group to determine whether there were any pathological causes of their symptoms. Results : The LTP of chronic LBP was 13.4%. Most (71.7%) of them didn't have any lumbar spinal lesions (i.e., non-specific chronic LBP). The SF-36 subscale and summary scores were significantly lower in subjects with chronic LBP. Between specific and non-specific chronic LBP group, all physical and mental subscale scores were significantly lower in specific chronic LBP group, except mental health (MH) subscale score. In MH subscale and mental component summary score, statistical significant differences didn't appear between two groups (p=0.154, 0.126). Conclusion : In Korean males 19 years of age, the LTP of chronic LBP was 13.4%, and more than two-thirds were non-specific chronic LBP. Chronic LBP had a significant impact on HRQOL. The presence of lumbar spinal pathoanatomical lesions affected mainly on the physical aspect of HRQOL. It influenced little on the mental health.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.85-95
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• 2021

Low-level laser therapy including laser acupuncture has been widely used for non-specific chronic low back pain in primary Korean medical clinics. However, there is no critically appraised data regarding which treatment conditions are most effective. A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to determine effective treatment conditions using 12 databases (PubMed, Ovid, CENTRAL, KoreaMed, KMBASE, KISS, NDSL, KISTI, OASIS, CNKI, CiNII, and J-STAGE). There were 1,019 studies retrieved and 13 studies included in this review. It was determined that when the power output was ≥ 50 mW, the beam size was increased to ≥ cm², the energy dose was increased to ≥ 4 J per point, the treatment interval was increased to ≥ 3 times a week, and the number of treatment sessions was increased to ≥ 10 treatments, these conditions appeared to increased treatment effectiveness.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Integrative Medicine
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.37-52
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• 2022

Purpose : The purpose of this meta-analysis was to evaluate the effects of electrical stimulation on patients with non-specific low back pain. Methods : Domestic databases were gathered from studies that conducted clinical trials associated with electrical stimulation and its impact on pain of non-specific low back patients. A total of 681 studies were identified, with 12 studies satisfying the inclusion data. The studies consisted of patient, intervention, comparison, outcome, and study design (PICO-SD). The search outcomes were items associated with low back pain. Cochrane risk of bias 2 (RoB 2) was used to evaluate the quality of 12 randomized controlled trials. Effect sizes (Hedges's g) in this study were computed as the corrected standard mean difference (SMD). A random-effect model was used to analyze the effect size because of the high heterogeneity among the studies. Egger's regression and 'trim-and-fill' tests were carried out to analyze the publication bias. Cumulative meta-analysis and sensitivity analysis were conducted to analyze the effect according to the sample size and the consistency of the effect size. Results : The following factors had a large overall effect size (Hedges's g=1.28, 95 % CI=.20~2.36) involving electrical stimulation on non-specific low back pain. The subgroup analysis all showed a statistical difference in the types of study design, electrical stimulation, and assessment tool. No statistically significant difference was found in the meta-regression analysis. Publican bias was found in the data. Conclusion : The findings in this study indicate that electrical stimulation interventions have a positive effect on patients with non-specific low back pain. However, due to the low quality of studies and publication bias, the results of our study should be interpreted cautiously.