A study of therapeutic ultrasound and exercise treatment for muscle fatigue in patients with chronic non specific low back pain: a preliminary report.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of continuous ultrasound (US) plus exercise on the endurance of paravertebral muscles of patients with chronic non specific low back pain (CNSLBP).

METHODS

In this pilot, pretest-posttest study, 22 patients with CNSLBP participated. Patients received 10 sessions of treatment, including continuous US plus exercise therapy, over a period of four consecutive weeks. Median frequency slopes of Iliocostalis and Multifidus muscles as well as holding time during Biering-Sorensen test were measured using surface electromyography. In addition, function and pain were measured using Functional Rating Index (FRI) questionnaire and VAS.

RESULTS

Five females and 15 males with a mean age of 31.7 years completed the treatment. Descriptive data showed a decrease of 0.01 and 0.02 mean in median frequency slope of right and left Iliocostalis respectively and a mean of 0.08 decrease for both right and left Multifidus muscles. Endurance time increased 1.8 seconds mean. Both function (17%) and pain (24%) improved post treatment.

CONCLUSIONS

Larger population studies in the context of high quality, randomized clinical trial are needed to validate the results.