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Abstract

Objective: To analyze the correlation between cortisol, creatine kinase (CK),estradiol, pain perception, low back functional disability, and abdominal and lumbar muscle strength in postmenopausal women with low back pain.Methods:The sample consisted of eleven postmenopausal women (age: 55.09 ± 6.7 years; range between 44 and 66 years old; body mass: 63.07 ± 9.78 kg; height: 1.55 ± 0.07 m; BMI: 26.01 ± 2.67 kg/m 2) with pain and functional lumbar incapacity.Blood collection for analysis of the basal serum levels of cortisol and estradiolwas performed using the chemiluminescence method, andthe enzymatic method was applied for CK analysis.The pain perception and the perception of lumbar functional incapacity were determined through the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and the Roland-Morris Questionnaire (RMQ), respectively. The abdominal strength and the strength of the spine extensor muscles were analyzed by an isometric test. Results: ThePearson correlation showed a highly significant negative correlation between the estradiol levels and the VAS (r =-0.725; p = 0.012). The cortisol presented a significant negative correlation with the strength scores of the spine extensors (r =-0.764; p = 0.006).The participants' age presented significant correlation with cortisol (r =-0.668; p = 0.025) and with the lumbar score (r =-0.601; p = 0.051). No significant differences were found in RMQ, CK, and the abdominal score(p ≥ 0.05).Conclusions:Postmenopausal women with higher age tend to present higher serum cortisol levels and lower levels of lumbar strength.Moreover, greater levels of cortisol are related to smallerlevels of lumbar strength. Lower estradiol levels tend to represent higher pain perception in postmenopausal women withlow back pain.