The effectiveness of home-based exercise programs for low back pain patients.
Sevgi Özdinç Anar
PMID 27821923WHAT IT FOUND
Patients who returned after four weeks showed improved pain, flexibility, endurance and disability scores during home exercise plus medical treatment.
The study cannot separate the components, and adherence or exercise accuracy did not correlate with outcomes.
Key findings
01The 21 patients who returned for the four-week control evaluation showed statistically significant improvements in pain, flexibility, endurance, Oswestry disability and Rolland Morris disability scores.
02The adherence rate was 54.10 ± 26.01%, and the exercise accuracy score was 2.71 ± 1.91 out of a possible 5.
03No correlations were found between the outcome measures and adherence to exercise or the accuracy score.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
Twenty-eight of the 49 patients did not return for the four-week control evaluation, so the results describe only the 21 patients who came back. The patients were also receiving medical treatment, so the study cannot separate the effect of the home exercise program from the medical treatment. The paper measured the same patients before and after the program and did not describe a comparison group. The four-week period was unsupervised, and the authors state this was long and that follow-up should be shorter. The exclusion criteria included inability to return for control evaluation after four weeks.
Declared interests
No funding source or conflict of interest declaration is stated in the supplied text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that the home exercise program caused the improvements. The patients were also receiving medical treatment, the study had no comparison group, and 28 of 49 patients did not return, so the contribution of the home program cannot be separated.