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Combined Treatment of Manual Therapy and Therapeutic Exercise in Patients With Low Back Pain

Effectiveness of a Therapeutic Exercise Protocol Combined With Manual Therapy Techniques on the Diaphragm Muscle in Patients With Low Back Pain

Status
Completed
Phases
NA
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT04384185
Enrollment
42
Registered
2020-05-12
Start date
2020-09-01
Completion date
2021-04-15
Last updated
2021-09-28

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

Conditions

Exercise Training, Low Back Pain, Mechanical, Musculoskeletal Manipulations

Brief summary

MAIN OBJECTIVE: to assess whether an exercise protocol on the lumbar musculature by adding manual therapy techniques on the diaphragm muscle has the same or greater effect on chronic non-specific lumbar pain than an isolated exercise protocol. SECONDARY OBJECTIVES: to evaluate the effectiveness of a lumbar exercise protocol in chronic non-specific low back pain in isolation; To evaluate the effectiveness of both therapies in improving joint range in patients with chronic non-specific low back pain and, finally, to assess catastrophism and the avoidance of lumbar mobility when carrying out loaded movements. HYPOTHESIS: that a lumbar exercise protocol combined with manual therapy treatment on the diaphragm is equal or more effective on pain in patients with chronic nonspecific low back pain than treatment with the same lumbar exercise protocol in isolation.

Detailed description

METHODOLOGY: A prospective randomized clinical trial with two types of intervention (lumbar exercise protocol and manual diaphragm therapy) will be carried out. The variables to be measured are pain, disability, mobility and kinesiophobia. It will be performed in two groups of 21 people who are of legal age, who have low back pain of more than 3 months duration and which is of non-specific origin. The patients will be randomized and divided into two groups A (control) and B (experimental). Group A will undergo an exercise protocol. Group B will undergo the same protocol plus manual therapy techniques on diaphragm muscle. Study participants will have treatment twice a week for 8 weeks, the first information session and the second measurement-evaluation session in the first week of treatment. In the following 3 weeks the session will last 40 minutes for both groups. In the 4th week the established measurements will be carried out again.

Interventions

Exercises: * Pelvic tilt. * brinding. * cuadruped arm/leg raise. * Abdominal strengthening exercises. * Low-back muscles stretching. * The side bridge. * Side leg separation

OTHERManual therapy

1. Functional diaphragm balancing technique: gentle vertical pressure was applied for 5 minutes at the diaphragm level. 2. Muscle fiber stretching technique: a cranial traction was performed from the lower edge of the costal arches during the inspiratory breathing phase, for more than 10 respiratory cycles. 3. Phrenic-center inhibition technique (Figure 3C): the soft tissue was pumped during the expiratory phase by gently and simultaneously using both hands to create pressure in cranial and caudal direction, for more than 10 respiratory cycles.

Sponsors

University of Alcala
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

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

Intervention model description

Randomized clinical trial

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 70 Years
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

* Legal age * Non-specific Low-Back pain * Pain more 3 months

Exclusion criteria

* subjects with lumbar herniation. * Spine canal stenosis * Subjects with neurological disease. * Lumbar surgery

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Low-back painChange from Baseline disability at 3 monthsThe investigators use a Visual Analog Scale (VAS) to determine the intensity of the patient with lowback pain.The VAS is a 100-mm line, oriented horizontally, with one end representing no pain and ten the other end representing worst pain. Subjects will be asked to rate their current pain with a mark on the scale.

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Disability with Oswestry Disability IndexChange from Baseline disability at 3 monthsThe Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) is a questionnaire used by clinicians and researchers to quantify disability for low back pain.The self-completed questionnaire contains ten topics concerning intensity of pain, lifting, ability to care for oneself, ability to walk, ability to sit, sexual function, ability to stand, social life, sleep quality, and ability to travel.Each topic category is followed by 6 statements describing different potential scenarios in the patient's life relating to the topic. The patient then checks the statement which most closely resembles their situation. Each question is scored on a scale of 0-5 with the first statement being zero and indicating the least amount of disability and the last statement is scored 5 indicating most severe disability. The scores for all questions answered are summed, then multiplied by two to obtain the index (range 0 to 100). Zero is equated with no disability and 100 is the maximum disability possible
Lumbar range of motionChange from Baseline disability at 3 monthsMobility. It will be measured using an electronic inclinometer.The TiltMeter© -advanced level and inclinometer app is an inclinometer app of iPhone®. The investigation has demonstrated that the app possesses good to excellent reliability (ICC ≥ 0.77) and concurrent validity with a gravity-based inclinometer (r ≥ 0.86) for measuring standing isolated lumbar flexion and extension range of movement
KinesiophobiaChange from Baseline disability at 3 monthsKinesiophobia was measured by an 11-item version of the Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia (TSK-11). The 11 items of the scale each have 4 response options; all anchored with the answers strongly disagree, which scores 1 point, and strongly agree, which scores 4 points. The total sum score is calculated and can range between 11 and 44 points. A high score indicates strong fear of movement/(re)injury, i.e. high kinesiophobia. TSK-11 has been psychometrically evaluated and has shown good construct validity and reliability among older people (i.e. internal consistency (Cronbach alpha, 0.74-0.87) and test-retest reliability (ICC r = 0.747)

Countries

Spain

Outcome results

None listed

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