The efficacy of an aerobic exercise and health education program for treatment of chronic low back pain

Abstract

Low back pain is one of the most common and important musculoskeletal disorders. In addition, chronic low back pain can deteriorate the patient's physical, psychosocial and socioeconomic status. The objective of this quasi-experimental research was to assess the efficacy of an aerobic exercise and health education program in the treatment of chronic low back pain. Seventy-two patients whose ages ranged from 30 to 50 years who had chronic low back pain were enrolled and randomly assigned into two groups. Eight men and 28 women in the experimental group participated in a series of 3 health education sessions and an aerobic exercise training program. Nine men and 27 women in the control group received regular health education and a lumbar flexion exercise program. After a 3-month period of treatment, the results revealed the experimental group had statistically significant improvement of pain score and resting pulse rates when compared to the values of the control group (p-value < 0.001 and < 0.01, respectively). The average serum High Density Lipoprotein-Cholesterol (HDL-C) in the experimental group was also significantly higher (p-value < 0.05) than that of the control group. This health education program is useful and may be applicable to patients with chronic low back pain as an alternative treatment.