The effect of lumber stabilization exercise on the balance and clinical health

The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of lumbar stabilization exercises on chronic low back pain for; pain, functioning, quality of life, balance as well as trophic improvement of lumbar multifidus muscles. 66 patients with chronic low back pain were enrolled in this study. The patients were randomized and divided into two groups. Lomber stabilization exercises, TENS and Hotpack treatments were given to the first group (n: 28) while the second group (n: 37) were treated with only TENS and Hotpack. Patients' evaluations have been carried out before and after 8 weeks later. Visuel Analog Scale (VAS) were used to determine the pain as a numeric scale during the rest and pyhsical activity. Modified Oswestry Questionnaire Survey and Roland Morris Scale were used to evaluate of functional disability. The Short Form-36 (SF36) applied to measure of quality of life. To evaluation the body balance Tetrax device, to measure multifidus muscle's cross-sectional areas Ultrasound has been used. Except falling risk (FI) in all parameters we had observed significant improvement in group 1. There was no any improvement in the parameters such as risk of falls (FI), left/right 5th multifidus muscle cross-sectional area and SF 36 the general health perception in group2.Furthermore the cross-sectional area of the multifidus muscles, the physical role of SF-36, the mental health and energy / vitality subparameters were found significantly improved in group 1 when compared to the other group. There was no significant difference between the groups when the fall index, VAS scores, Roland Morris Questionnaire and Oswestry Disability Index were considered. As a result, lomber stabilization exercises have positive effect on pain relief, improve the functional capacity and quality of life. Additionally the exercises also increased cross-sectional areas of weak multifidus muscles. It is known that another important task of multifidus is to provide the trunk proprioception. For this reason we performed the disease balance examination for both groups. Finaly we found no significant difference between two groups.