Abstract
Low back pain is a prevalent condition affecting a large portion of the population world-wide. It is one of the leading causes of morbidity and work absenteeism. Therefore, cost-effective strategies used to treat this condition are important especially in a predominantly third world country such as South Africa where 55.5% of the population lived below the poverty line in 2015. Although numerous studies have demonstrated the favourable effects of rehabilitative exercise on reducing chronic low back pain (pain lasting longer than three months), some studies have failed to demonstrate the effectiveness of exercise in treating acute low back pain (pain lasting less than four weeks), and few studies have investigated the effectiveness of exercise on sub-acute low back pain (pain lasting between four weeks and three months). In addition, since supervised exercise rehabilitation may not be readily affordable or accessible for all patients due to numerous factors including economical, geographical and time constraints, the present study’s main aim was to investigate the effectiveness of a home-based exercise programme in reducing sub-acute low back pain. An experimental, quantitative research design with a four-week exercise intervention was used. A group of 31 males and females were recruited to participate in the study by way of referral, word of mouth, patient contact and personal knowledge of people with lower back problems. The participants were allocated into either a control group (n=10), a home-based group (n=10) or a supervised group (n=11). The mean age of the participants was 38.58 ±15.04 years. An evidence-based exercise program was developed and used as the four-week intervention. The program consisted of a cardiovascular warm-up lasting 5-10 minutes, four stretches of two to three sets held for 15-30 seconds each (straight-leg raises, hip flexor stretch, child pose and lumbar rotation), and five strength exercises consisting of 10 to 20 repetitions, including pelvic bridges, heel slides with transversus abdominis activation, four-point multifidus activation with active shoulder flexion, side plank on knees and prone lumbar hyper-extension). The strength exercises changed in week three and week four to allow for progression. The Supervised Group (SG) performed the exercise program under the supervision of a registered biokineticist, while the Home Group (HG) performed the exercise program at home only. The Control Group (CG) underwent the pre-test and post-test procedures but did not receive any intervention. Low back pain and disability was determined using the Oswestry’s Low Back Pain Disability Questionnaire and the Visual Analogue Pain Score (VAS) scale. Statistical significance was set at a confidence level of 95% (p<0.05). There was no significant difference between the three groups’ pre-test Oswestry scores (p=0.392), post-test Oswestry scores (p=0.065) and four weeks follow up Oswestry scores (p=0.195). There were however significant differences between the three...
M.Phil. (Biokinetics)