A comparison of the effects of pilates and mckenzie training on pain and general health in men with chronic low back pain: A randomized trial

Abstract

Background:Today, chronic low back pain is one of the special challenges in healthcare. There is no unique approach to treat chronic low back pain. A variety of methods are used for the treatment of low back pain, but the effects of these methods have not yet been investigated adequately.Aim:The aim of this study was to compare the effects of Pilates and McKenzie training on pain and general health of men with chronic low back pain.Materials and Methods:Thirty-six patients with chronic low back pain were chosen voluntarily and assigned to three groups of 12 each: McKenzie group, Pilates group, and control group. The Pilates group participated in 1-h exercise sessions, three sessions a week for 6 weeks. McKenzie group performed workouts 1 h a day for 20 days. The control group underwent no treatment. The general health of all participants was measured by the General Health Questionnaire 28 and pain by the McGill Pain Questionnaire.Results:After therapeutic exercises, there was no significant difference between Pilates and McKenzie groups in pain relief (P = 0.327). Neither of the two methods was superior over the other for pain relief. However, there was a significant difference in general health indexes between Pilates and McKenzie groups.Conclusion:Pilates and McKenzie training reduced pain in patients with chronic low back pain, but the Pilates training was more effective to improve general health.

Chronic low back pain and postural rehabilitation exercise: a literature review

“…We conclude that all the analyzed techniques have proved their efficacy with respect to the CG, but it is difficult to affirm the superiority of one approach as compared to another; they are more or less equivalent in reducing pain, reducing disability and improving the QoL. Some of the studies reported in this review included CG of patients who did not perform any rehabilitative treatment;16,19,31,33,40,47 other studies used the patient’s delivery of an information booklet about home-based exercises or ergonomic advices. These research studies concluded about a non-resolution of CLBP in the untreated group, that the natural history of progression of untreated lumbar chronic pain is to remain so with peaks of recurrences and a floating but unresolved pain.…”

“…In the MK group, participants performed 1-hour of workouts for 20 days while the pilates group practiced sessions 3 times a week for 6 weeks and both were compared with CGs. After therapeutic exercises, no big difference in pain relief was found between the pilates group and the MK group ( P =0.327) but an improvement in pain score was seen in both techniques when compared to the CG 16…”

“…Further, one of the aims of pilates is to strengthen and train the core reference muscles for the control of trunk motion in all three planes 14,15. On the other hand, the GPR and Souchard methods do not concentrate on a specific part of the body alone, but treat the whole body in a global way, at the same time granting an active role to the patient who is also a protagonist of his/her own recovery 16…”

Application of Pilates-based exercises in the treatment of chronic non-specific low back pain: state of the art

“…Recently, three trials have been released, comparing the effectiveness of Pilates to another methods widely used in the management of CNLBP 32 33…”

Power Point Therapy: An Effective and Simple Treatment for Subacute Back Pain – A Randomized Controlled Trial

“…This can be seen in the strong improvement of patients in this group over the time course of the study, although, strictly speaking, a no-treatment control would have to be documented in order to definitively prove this. But we can assume that most chronic patients would not improve to the same degree naturally during 5 or 6 weeks [47]. Against this background, it is interesting to see that, in addition to the significant time trend, all analyses show a stronger improvement with PPT that is significantly different from physiotherapy.…”