Effects of Core Stability Exercises and Cognitive Tasks on Chronic Non-specific Back Pain

Iran University of Medical Sciences

Status: Enrolling

Conditions: Chronic Non-specific Low Back Pain

Treatments: Other: exercise therapy

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT05832918

IUMS (Other Identifier)

Details and patient eligibility

About

This randomized control trial study aims to compare the effect of core stability exercises and cognitive tasks with general exercises and cognitive tasks on pain, disability, and postural control strategies of chronic non-specific low back pain patients. The main questions are:

1. Are core stability exercises and cognitive tasks more effective than general exercises and cognitive tasks in reducing the pain of chronic non-specific low back pain patients?
2. Are core stability exercises and cognitive tasks more effective than general exercises and cognitive tasks in reducing the disability of chronic non-specific low back pain patients?
3. Are core stability exercises and cognitive tasks more effective than general exercises and cognitive tasks in improving postural stability parameters of chronic non-specific low back pain patients?
4. Are core stability exercises and cognitive tasks more effective than general exercises and cognitive tasks in improving stabilogram diffusion analysis parameters of chronic non-specific low back pain patients? This study is designed to apply two exercise protocols on two groups of 17 people with non-specific back pain. Group A will receive core stability exercises along with cognitive tasks, and group B will receive general exercises along with cognitive tasks.

Full description

Patients will be aged between 18-50 years. All patients meeting the inclusion criteria will receive 16 training sessions (thrice a week). The primary outcome measure will be pain and disability. Secondary outcome measures will be postural control strategies (including postural control stability and stabilogram diffusion analysis), quality of life, fear of movement, and fear-avoidance beliefs that will be assessed before and after training sessions and at 3-month follow-up; only primary outcomes will be evaluated in each group.

Enrollment: 48 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 55 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Orthopedist-confirmed diagnosis of chronic nonspecific low back pain that has lasted at least three months since its onset.
• Pain score of 3 or more on a visual analog scale.
• Pain during quiet standing.
• Cognitive level above 24 based on mini-mental state examination (MMSE).

Exclusion criteria

• Radicular pain and any neurological signs.
• Uncorrected vision impairment.
• Hearing problems.
• Vestibular dysfunctions.
• Cognitive deficit.
• Previous spinal surgery.
• Severe deformity or injury to the lower extremities.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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48 participants in 2 patient groups

core stability exercises with cognitive tasks group

Experimental group

Description:

This research will use core stability exercises to strengthen local muscles (transversus abdominis and multifidus) based on the training program provided by Shamsi et al., which is modified from the exercise program of Koumantakis et al.. Participants will be treated for six weeks, three sessions a week, and 16 sessions. We will also combine stabilization exercises with cognitive tasks.

Treatment:

Other: exercise therapy

general exercises with cognitive tasks group

Active Comparator group

Description:

This research will use general exercises to strengthen global muscles (abdominal flexor muscles and back extensor muscles) based on the training program provided by Shamsi et al.(110), which is modified by Koumantakis et al.. Participants will be treated for six weeks, three sessions a week, and 16 sessions. We will also combine general exercises with cognitive tasks.

Treatment:

Other: exercise therapy