Effectiveness of a home exercise programme in low back pain: a randomized five-year follow-up study

Tiina Kuukkanen, Esko Mälkiä, Hannu Kautiainen, Timo Pohjolainen

The purpose of thist study was to describe long-term changes in intensity of low back pain and in functioning for two study groups five years after undertaking a home exercise programme. Fifty-seven subjects were reassessed with questionnaires five years after their initial recruitment for an intervention study. A home exercise group, with training once a day, and a control group, without exercise, were included in the present study protocol. Overall physical activity decreased slightly during the five-year follow-up, but there were no differences between the two study groups.  The authors conclude that the present randomized study indicates that supervised, controlled home exercises lead to reduced low back pain, and that positive effects were preserved over five years.

Physiotherapy Research International, Sept 2007, online article ahead of print

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