The effect of gender on life quality and pain in chronic low back pain patients with physical treatment

Chronic back pain is challenging to treat and difficult to manage a disease that negatively affects an individual's quality of life. In this study, it was aimed to compare the physical therapy and the changes in pain, limitation and quality of life of patients with chronic low back pain by gender. This study was included a total of 100 patients (grouped as 50 women and 50 men by gender) who diagnosed with chronic low back pain. Fifteen sessions of physical therapy (TENS, Ultrasound, Hotpack) were applied to all patients in this experiment. Before and after treatment, the quality of life and low back pain of patients were evaluated. Back pain severity, the quality of life and low back pain issues was assessed with questionnaires. With treatment, VAS scores of the patients decreased significantly (p <0.001). The patients' Oswestry Low Back Disability Questionnaire total scores decreased significantly with treatment (p <0.001). The change in the total score of the Oswestry questionnaire was considerably more significant in women than in men (p = 0.026). The total score of the SF-36 scale sub-items increased significantly with treatment in all patients (p <0.001). For both men and women, a significant increase was found in all sub-dimensions of SF-36 scale with treatment (p <0.05). The score changes of the SF-36 scale subscales were calculated. The difference in the social functionality sub-dimension was significantly higher in women than in men (p = 0.025). As a result, all of the patients with chronic low back pain who were received physical therapy were benefited from the treatment. Measurements of patients and changes in scale scores were calculated. In this case, it was found that women benefit significantly more than men in terms of SF-36 scale social functionality subscale and Oswestry index. Keywords: Low back pain, physical therapy, gender, quality of life, oswestry