A comparison of stabilization exercise and strength exercises on pain level, functionality and quality of life in patients with chronic low back pain

The objective of this study was to compare the effectiveness of stabilization exercise and strength exercises on pain level, functionality, quality of life in patients with Chronic Low Back Pain (CLBP). 34 patients (mean age: 33.97±8.94 years, M/F 17/17) who get a diagnose of CLBP from Turan Turan Yıldırım Medicine Center enrolled in the study. Patients were randomly divided into two groups as Group 1 and Group 2, according to the last digit of their patient number given by the PT clinic's secretary. If the number was odd they were selected for Group 1 and even numbers for Group 2. The patients in both groups were applied 20 session physiotherapy program (15 minutes Hotpack, 5 minutes Threapathic Ultrasound and 20 minutes TENS) every weekday for 4 weeks. Stabilization exercises were applied to Group 1 and the strength exercises were applied to Group 2 with 20 sessions for 4 weeks. Range of motion with universal goniometer, Transversus Abdominis (TrA) muscle strength with Pressure Biofeedback Unit (PBU; Chattanooga Group-Australia), pain intensity with Visual Analog Scale (VAS), quality of life with Short Form 12 (SF-12), functionality with Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) and fear avoidance behavior with Fear Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire (FABQ) were assessed before and after 20 treatment sessions all patients in both groups. IBM SPSS Statistics 22 Program was used for statistical analysis (SPSS, IBM, Turkey). In Group 1; flexion, left lateral flexion, TrA muscle strength, VAS, SF-12, ODI and FABQ values showed significant improvement after treatment (p<0.05). In Group 2; flexion, TrA muscle strength, VAS, SF-12, ODI and FABQ values showed significant improvement after treatment (p<0.05). As a result of comparison of the two groups; it has been found that there is a statistically significant difference in the right and left lateral flexion values after treatment in favor of the Group 1 (p<0.05). The difference between the flexion, extension, TrA muscle strength, VAS, SF-12, ODI and FABQ values were not found statistically significant (p>0.05). More comprehensive studies are needed to determine which of these two exercise types are more effective than the other.