Effectiveness of Spinal Stabilization Exercises on Movement Performance in Adults with Chronic Low Back Pain.
Khalid Alkhathami, Yousef Alshehre, Kelli Brizzolara and 2 others
PMID 36793568WHAT IT FOUND
Spinal stabilization exercises improved movement quality more than general exercises, but neither reduced pain or disability enough to be clinically meaningful.
Both groups improved during supervised sessions, with gains fading when participants exercised alone at home.
Key findings
01Spinal stabilization exercises led to significantly greater improvement in movement performance scores than general flexibility exercises at four and eight weeks.
02Neither exercise program produced a clinically meaningful reduction in pain or disability compared to baseline.
03Participants were significantly more compliant with their exercise program during the supervised phase than during the unsupervised home phase.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The participants had very mild pain and low disability at the start of the study, so the results may not apply to patients with more severe symptoms. The study only included adults between 18 and 65 years old, so the findings may not generalize to older populations. Participants were allowed to continue other physical activities and take medications, which were not strictly controlled. The short eight-week duration means it is unclear whether the benefits of supervised exercise would have returned if participants had resumed clinic visits.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflict of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the significant improvement in movement performance scores as evidence that the exercises will reduce a patient's pain or disability. The study found that neither group achieved a clinically meaningful change in pain or disability, and the overall improvements faded once supervised sessions ended.