WEEK 13 RESPONSES

DUE Saturday April 11, 2020

APA FORMAT

Answer the following question below.

In this article, Delshad et al., (2018) attempts to assess the influence of corrective exercise program on the low back pain ailment amongst farmers by conducting a semi-experimental research. Back pain has been seen to have a high incidence of up to 80% worldwide. Lower back pain has been associated with high socioeconomic burden, among others. Preventive measures include exercising appropriately, keeping the spine fit, and preventing overweight.

The participants for the study were 100 farmers from the midsection of the city of Aq-Qala. They were assigned 2 groups randomly: intervention (50 participants) and control (50 participants) with the average age being 40.1±8.15 and 41.84 years old respectively. The inclusion criteria included rural farmers who had no limit to exercise and also those with the desire to participate while the exclusion criteria included lack of exercise training.

The exercise program consisted of eight sessions which were carried out by the intervention group and conducted by a physical education instructor. The exercise was performed based on each person’s ability and the essentials of exercising including duration, gradual increase, and intensity of the exercise. The program included light stretching and warming up from five to ten minutes, tensile training from twenty to twenty-five minutes, and resuming to the initial training of five to ten minutes. The waist region training program included a flash exercise with a focus on strengthening the back extensors and abdominal muscles. Nordic questionnaires conducted before and after the exercise program were compared. This was a traditional approach as the exercises used were normal and no medication was used.

The program reduced the pain by twenty-four percent from 56%. The pain percentage for the control group was 60. The reason for the reduction was due to the frequency and severity of exercise and duration of exercise. The findings were supported by other studies which suggested that the corrective training program is important in reducing the pain. Ethical consideration was ensured by obtaining and informed consent. In the intervention subjects, 28 said yes to having the pain while 22 said no before the program was conducted. 16 said yes while 34 said no after the program.   

(ANSWER THIS QUESTION) Based on the sample (farmers) and the results of the study, do you think an alternative approach to training (focused on lumbar stabilization) would have been as effective? Why or why not? 

Next, read the following post and respond. (100-200 words)

Summary of subject demographics (age, sex, ect.)

A low back study was done on 312 patients aged 18-65 with low back pain, with or without leg symptoms, with or without one neurological sign and demonstrates a directional preference during the mechanical assessment. Exclusionary criteria include two or more neurological signs, spinal fractures, post-surgical intervention etc. A list is provided in table 1.

Summary of exercise intervention and whether if falls into the "traditional" or "alternative" approach

They separated these patients into three groups. One group placed in directional preference (DP), one group into opposite direction of preference and one group into the evidenced based care (EBC). They did not go into great detail what was involved with the evidence -based care but stated that physical therapist provided standardized treatment as they would for a traditional patient with low back pain. The DP group underwent MDT (Mechanical Diagnosis and Therapy) which is a McKenzie method of treatment that focuses on finding a directional preference for LBP patients in which that direction centralizes their pain or reduces their pain. The third group had treatment that was performed in the opposite direction of DP.

Summary of results (how effective was the intervention?)

All three groups had positive results. However, the DP group outperformed the other two groups in all cases (see figure 3). Furthermore, the DP group did not have any worsening of symptoms as the other two groups did. Not only does this mean that the DP is more effective than the other two methods but that the safety of the treatment is better than the other two groups. Based on these conclusions we can state that a shotgun approach to exercise and stretching to treat LBP patients is not as effective as tailored treatment for each patient.