IntroductionLumbar disc herniation (LDH) is a common condition in adults and can impose a heavy burden on both the individual and society. It is defined as displacement of disc components beyond the intervertebral disc space. Various conservative treatments have been recommended for the treatment of LDH and physical therapy plays a major role in the management of patients. Therapeutic exercise is effective for relieving pain and improving function in individuals with symptomatic LDH. The aim of this systematic review is to evaluate the effectiveness of motor control exercise (MCE) for symptomatic LDH.Methods and analysisWe will include all clinical trial studies with a concurrent control group which evaluated the effect of MCEs in patients with symptomatic LDH. We will search PubMed, SCOPUS, PEDro, SPORTDiscus, CINAHL, CENTRAL and EMBASE with no restriction of language. Primary outcomes of this systematic review are pain intensity and functional disability and secondary outcomes are functional tests, muscle thickness, quality of life, return to work, muscle endurance and adverse events. Study selection and data extraction will be performed by two independent reviewers. The assessment of risk of bias will be implemented using the PEDro scale. Publication bias will be assessed by funnel plots, Begg's and Egger's tests. Heterogeneity will be evaluated using the I2 statistic and the χ2 test. In addition, subgroup analyses will be conducted for population and the secondary outcomes. All meta-analyses will be performed using Stata V.12 software.Ethics and disseminationNo ethical concerns are predicted. The systematic review findings will be published in a peer-reviewed journal and will also be presented at national/international academic and clinical conferences.Trial registration numberCRD42016038166.
The present results provided evidence that only GE increased right and left rectus muscle thickness. The only significant difference between CSE and GE groups was the right rectus thickness. As rectus is a global muscle, the effect of GE on strength improvement (one side stronger than the other) may have a negative effect on motor control of lumbopelvic muscles and possibly increase the risk of back pain occurring or becoming worse, though this was not observed in the present study.
Rehabilitative ultrasound (US) imaging is one of the popular methods for investigating muscle morphologic characteristics and dimensions in recent years. The reliability of this method has been investigated in different studies. As studies have been performed with different designs and quality, reported values of rehabilitative US have a wide range. The objective of this study was to systematically review the literature conducted on the reliability of rehabilitative US imaging for the assessment of deep abdominal and lumbar trunk muscle dimensions. The PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, Google Scholar, Science Direct, Embase, Physiotherapy Evidence, Ovid, and CINAHL databases were searched to identify original research articles conducted on the reliability of rehabilitative US imaging published from June 2007 to August 2017. The articles were qualitatively assessed; reliability data were extracted; and the methodological quality was evaluated by 2 independent reviewers. Of the 26 included studies, 16 were considered of high methodological quality. Except for 2 studies, all high-quality studies reported intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) for intra-rater reliability of 0.70 or greater. Also, ICCs reported for inter-rater reliability in high-quality studies were generally greater than 0.70. Among low-quality studies, reported ICCs ranged from 0.26 to 0.99 and 0.68 to 0.97 for intra- and inter-rater reliability, respectively. Also, the reported standard error of measurement and minimal detectable change for rehabilitative US were generally in an acceptable range. Generally, the results of the reviewed studies indicate that rehabilitative US imaging has good levels of both inter- and intra-rater reliability.
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