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The Effect of Motor Control Exercise Versus General Exercise on Lumbar Local Stabilizing Muscles Thickness

The Effect of Motor Control Exercise Versus General Exercise on Lumbar Local Stabilizing Muscles Thickness

Status
Completed
Phases
NA
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT00555802
Enrollment
49
Registered
2007-11-09
Start date
2006-04-30
Completion date
2007-11-30
Last updated
2008-01-29

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Low Back Pain

Keywords

Low Back Pain, Motor Control Exercise, General exercise, Ultrasonography, Multifidus, Transversus abdominis, Randomized Controlled trial.

Brief summary

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of motor control exercises. For this, before and after motor control and general exercises, we determined transverses abdominis and multifidus thickness, activity limitation and pain. We hypothesized that the motor control exercises would increase transverses abdominis and multifidus muscles thickness. Activity limitation and pain would decrease following two protocols that it was more in motor control group than general one.

Detailed description

Musculoskeletal disorders, of which back pain accounts for more than half the number of cases, are the most common cause of chronic incapacity in industrialized countries. Approximately 10-20 percent of patients with low back pain develop chronic pain, defined as low back pain persisting more than 3 months. Low back pain represents a particularly costly sociomedical problem because of the expenditure associated with repeated treatment and the long-term absence from work and need for social support. These patients use more than 80% of health care resources for back problems, and treatment has a low success rate. Thus, the development of effective interventions aimed at management of the chronic problems is urgently required. Review of studies showed that the effectiveness of stabilization exercises in patients with nonspecific LBP is not yet fully established. In clinical trials that improvement reported after motor control exercise, other intervention accompanied with these exercises. Also, the results of motor control exercise studies are different. On the other hand, the evidence underpins the primary aim of motor control exercise, which is to re-establish normal control of the deep spinal muscles, reducing the activity of more superficial muscles that tend to stiffen the spine and have increased activity in low back pain, and then maintain normal control during progressively more demanding physical and functional tasks. For these reasons, we decided to identify the efficacy of motor control exercises, usually considered as specific trunk muscle stabilization exercises. A randomized controlled trial was only way for identifying the role of these exercises in treating chronic low back pain. Also, our choice coincides with the research agenda set by the 2004 European Guideline.

Interventions

OTHERexercise

exercise

Sponsors

Zahedan University of Medical Sciences
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
TRIPLE (Subject, Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
20 Years to 80 Years
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

* nonspecific low back pain with or without leg pain of at least 3 months duration * currently seeking care for low back pain * aged greater than 18 and less than 80 years * suitable for motor control exercise based on clinical assessment * The patients must also have sufficient knowledge of the Persian language to understand instructions

Exclusion criteria

* suspected or confirmed serious spinal pathology (fracture, metastatic, inflammatory or infective diseases of the spine, cauda equine syndrome, widespread neurological disorder) * suspected or confirmed pregnancy * nerve root compromise (2 of strength, reflex or sensation affected for same nerve root) * spinal surgery * any of the contraindications to exercise listed on page 42 of the ACSM guidelines

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frame
Before and after intervention, we assessed the multifidus and abdominal muscles thickness (mm) using a 7.5 MHz B-mode transducer ultrasound, pain through visual analog scale and activity limitation through Back Performance Scale.Baseline, 16 weeks

Secondary

MeasureTime frame
Weight, Age, height,BMI,Current duration of pain,Time since first onsetbaseline

Countries

Iran

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026