Aerobic exercise training in addition to conventional physiotherapy for chronic low back pain: a randomized controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE

To examine the effect of adding aerobic exercise to conventional physiotherapy treatment for patients with chronic low back pain (LBP) in reducing pain and disability.

DESIGN

Randomized controlled trial.

SETTING

A physiotherapy outpatient setting in Hong Kong.

PARTICIPANTS

Patients with chronic LBP (N=46) were recruited and randomly assigned to either a control (n=22) or an intervention (n=24) group.

INTERVENTIONS

An 8-week intervention; both groups received conventional physiotherapy with additional individually tailored aerobic exercise prescribed only to the intervention group.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Visual analog pain scale, Aberdeen Low Back Pain Disability Scale, and physical fitness measurements were taken at baseline, 8 weeks, and 12 months from the commencement of the intervention. Multivariate analysis of variance was performed to examine between-group differences.

RESULTS

Both groups demonstrated a significant reduction in pain (P<.001) and an improvement in disability (P<.001) at 8 weeks and 12 months; however, no differences were observed between groups. There was no significant difference in LBP relapse at 12 months between the 2 groups (χ(2)=2.30, P=.13).

CONCLUSIONS

The addition of aerobic training to conventional physiotherapy treatment did not enhance either short- or long-term improvement of pain and disability in patients with chronic LBP.