Effect of 3 weeks of structured aquatic therapy exercise protocol in non specific acute low back ache- a clinical trial

Author: 
Varun Naik., Lakshita Shah., Maitri Shah and Paridhi Shah

Introduction: 90% of all the back pain is attributable to non specific low back pain and 10% to specific low back pain which is a health problem of high economic importance. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of 3 weeks of structured aquatic therapy exercise protocol in non specific acute low back ache.
Aquatic rehabilitation has proved to be an efficient one;it helps to control the gravitational force in water with patients having low back pain. Various properties of water such as buoyancy, surface tension enhances flexibility, muscle strength.
Methods: This study was a clinical trial and subjects were aged between 18-30 years. VAS,
Pressure Biofeedback and Popliteal angle were used to measure the Pain, Strength and Hamstring flexibility. Subjects were given one week adaptation time and intervention was given three times a week for two weeks. Paired and independent t test was used to analyze the data and significance level was set at 0.05 (P<0.05)
Results: Paired t test showed that significant improvement was indicated (P<0.05) and the independent t test showed that there was a significant difference in the change of these variables. Significant changes were indicated in terms of pain reduction, strength and hamstring flexibilty.
Conclusion: The aquatic therapy program used in this study improved pain, core strength and hamstring flexibility, which is an important factor in low back ache. According to the results of this study, the structured aquatic therapy exercise protocol can probably be used in rehabilitation program in patients with low back pain.

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DOI: 
http://dx.doi.org/10.24327/ijcar.2018.14979.2733
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