Is physiotherapy integrated virtual walking effective on pain, function, and kinesiophobia in patients with non-specific low-back pain? Randomised controlled trial

Abstract

Purpose: According to literature, virtual reality was found to reduce pain and kinesiophobia in patients with chronic pain. The purpose of the study was to investigate short-term effect of the virtual reality on pain, function, and kinesiophobia in patients with subacute and chronic non-specific low-back pain METHODS: This randomised controlled study in which 44 patients were randomly assigned to the traditional physiotherapy (control group, 22 subjects) or virtual walking integrated physiotherapy (experimental group, 22 subjects). Before and after treatment, Visual Analog Scale (VAS), TAMPA Kinesiophobia Scale (TKS), Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), Nottingham Health Profile (NHP), Timed-up and go Test (TUG), 6-Minute Walk Test (6MWT), and Single-Leg Balance Test were assessed. The interaction effect between group and time was assessed by using repeated-measures analysis of covariance.

Results: After treatment, both groups showed improvement in all parameters. However, VAS, TKS, TUG, and 6MWT scores showed significant differences in favor of the experimental group.

Conclusion: Virtual walking integrated physiotherapy reduces pain and kinesiophobia, and improved function in patients with subacute and chronic non-specific low-back pain in short term.

Keywords: Function; Kinesiophobia; Low-back pain; Physiotherapy; Virtual reality; Virtual walking.