Comparison of the effects of self-myofascial release and combined core stabilization exercises in physiotherapy and rehabilitation students with low back pain

The primary purpose of this study is to compare two treatment protocols, which are core stability exercises combined with the self-myofascial release and only self-myofascial release regarding the functional capacity and pain. 32 physiotherapy and rehabilitation students from Yeditepe University who had no medical problems except low back pain (18W,14M;26,78±3,66) were included. The total duration of the study was 5 weeks. Group 1 (G1) received the self-myofascial release and core exercises, while group 2 (G2) received only the self-myofascial release. An evaluation was made during the pre-intervention, mid-intervention (3rd week), and post-intervention. Functional capacity was evaluated with Oswestry Scale (ODI), while the pain was measured with the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). According to the intragroup results, both the VAS-activity and the VAS-at rest decreased in both groups between pre-and post-measurements (p˂0.05). VAS-activity (p>0.05 ) and VAS-at rest (p˂0.05) increased in the 1st week in G1, while only the VAS-activity increased in G2 in the 1st week. (p>0.05) ODI scores decreased in both groups (<0.001). While nearly all of the sub-ODI scores decreased in G1 significantly (p˂0.05), the sub-scores of G2 decreased statistically significantly compared to pre-intervention scores (p˂0.05), except for social life and walking. Regarding the intergroup scores, the sudden VAS at rest scores were found to be statistically significant (p˂0.05). The decreases in VAS-activity and VAS-at rest were found to be statistically significant between groups in favour of G1 (p˂0.05). The decreases in the total ODI scores was statistically different between groups in favour of G1 (p=0.001). The decrease in pain severity, walking, sitting, and standing sub-scores of ODI were statistically different between the two groups (in favour of G1) (p˂ 0.05). As a result, it has been concluded that in contrast to only the SMFR protocol, the SMFR with core exercises could have more effective in physiotherapy students with low back pain regarding pain and functional capacity.