Effect of trunk muscle endurance training in pain management and function in sub-acute low back pain – A quasi experimental study

Introduction and Aim: Low back muscle endurance is becoming a major issue because of low back ache. Though many treatment protocols have been suggested and proved effective, endurance exercises have been under less researched area over its effectiveness in comparison to other treatment protocols. The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of trunk extensor muscle endurance training with conventional spinal exercise for trunk extensor muscle in subjects with LBP.   Materials and Methods: This is a quasi-experimental study involving 56 patients in the age group of 25-35 years who were allocated in the experimental group (endurance exercises) and control group (conventional spinal exercise) for 3 times per week, for 6 weeks for a duration of 30-45 minutes. Outcome measures used for the study were McGill Pain Questionnaire, RMDQ, 60 sec. spinal extension endurance tests.   Results: There was no significant difference found within group analysis in all outcome measures. In between, the group analysis experimental group has shown statistically significant difference in all outcome measures at post-test with the p-value of 0.000.   Conclusion: Endurance training has proved to be a much more effective method and provides faster recovery than conventional spinal extension exercise in treatment of patients with subacute low back pain.