Neuromuscular adaptations induced by a short rehabilitation program in chronic low back pain

(1) Background: Acupressure is a noninvasive, low-cost technique that makes use of physical pressure on specific points using a finger or a device and shows positive effects on chronic pain as an adjunctive method to the rehabilitation exercises. The study’s aim was to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy on pain, disability, and life quality of an acupressure mat associated with a rehabilitation program in patients with chronic low back pain. (2) Methods: All participants underwent a specific rehabilitation program, initially with 10 supervised exercise sessions, then as home exercise for 6 months. The subjects in the experimental group (EG) were additionally provided with an acupressure mat and used it for 60 min per day. (3) Results: 44 patients (31 females) were equally divided among the treatment groups. A significant time interaction was found in both groups for McGill Pain Questionnaire, Oswestry Disability Index, and EuroQol-5D, and only in the EG for Visual Analog Scale. (4) Conclusions: The acupressure mat is simple and provides an additional benefit for patients in relieving pain and improving function and quality of life, especially in the medium-to-long term.

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Identifying prognostic factors to determine the level of recovery in servicemembers with chronic low back pain: a prospective cohort study.

10.21203/rs.3.rs-23472/v1 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Bianca Maria Pietertje Mourits ◽

Mariette Zwanette Meulekamp ◽

Peter van der Wurff ◽

Cees Lucas

Keyword(s):

Cohort Study ◽

Low Back Pain ◽

Prognostic Factors ◽

Back Pain ◽

Chronic Low Back Pain ◽

Rehabilitation Program ◽

Service Members ◽

Low Back ◽

Regression Analyses

Abstract Background In the Dutch Armed Forces (DAF), low back pain is the third most reported musculoskeletal disorder. For the prognosis of chronic low back pain (CLBP) only limited evidence is available. This observation results in a lack of clarity on prognostic factors that might affect recovery from CLBP in service members.The main objective is to identify general and military-related factors that are associated with the level of recovery in DAF service members with CLBP who followed a rehabilitation program. Methods One hundred five consecutive service members with CLBP who completed the rehabilitation program have been included in this prospective observational cohort study. The primary outcome measurement, level of disability, was used to distinguish a recovered and non-recovered group. Level of pain and self-perceived recovery were used as secondary outcome measurements. Disability and pain were measured at baseline and 12 weeks follow-up and self-perceived recovery only at follow-up. Differences were evaluated within and between the groups using the Student’s t-test, according to the normality of the data distribution. Bivariate logistic regression analyses were used for identifying the prognostic factors related to various outcomes of recovery. Results After following the rehabilitation program, 64.8% of the service members recovered from CLBP. In the recovered group, there are significant effect sizes of -6.72 (CI: -7.57 - -5.87) in the level of disability and − 2.58 (CI: -3.17- -1.98) in level of pain, whereas the non-recovered group shows a non-significant effect size of -0.49 (CI: -1.27 - -0.29) in level of disability and a significant effect size of -0.94 (CI: -1.62 - -0.25) in level of pain. The self-perceived recovery in the recovered group is on average “much improved” and in the non-recovered group “slightly improved”. The results of the bivariate regression analyses show no significant independent prognostic factors related to recovery. Conclusion In this study, no significant independent prognostic factors could be identified that are associated to the various outcomes of recovery in service members with CLBP who followed a rehabilitation program.

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