Whole-Body Electromyostimulation Versus Therapeutic Resistance Exercise for the Treatment of Non-Specific Chronic Low Back Pain (BackDFGET)

University of Erlangen-Nürnberg Medical School

Status

Completed

Conditions

Low Back Pain

Treatments

Other: Medical Training Therapy

Other: Whole-body electrostimulation

Study type

Interventional

Funder types

Other

Identifiers

NCT06642350

WBEMS_Back_Outpatient

Details and patient eligibility

About

Non-specific chronic low back pain (NSCBP) is considered the leading cause of impairment of normal, symptom-free life (disability-adjusted life years - DALYs). NSCBP force more people out of work than diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, respiratory disease, asthma and cancer together. Strength and stability-oriented training programs in particular can lead to a significant improvement in NSCBP. However, back pain patients often cite time limitations and kinesiophobia (fear of movements) as the main reasons for their physical inactivity . The time-effective, joint-friendly and highly customizable whole-body electromyostimulation technology (WB-EMS) has been shown to be an effective alternative to conventional back training in two recently published clinical studies Following the successful implementation of this concept, dissemination of the positive results and testing of suitable settings for its implementation, the next step is to adapt and implement the concept as part of a knowledge transfer project in outpatient rehabilitation settings. The present project thus aimed to compare the effect of WB-EMS versus medical therapeutic therapy (MTT) using dedicated resistances devices as a recognized safe and effective treatment for low back pain.

Enrollment

26 patients

Sex

All

Ages

40 to 70 years old

Volunteers

No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

women and men 40-70 years old;
chronic pain in the lumbar spine (at least 50 percent of the days of the last 3 months,
average basal pain intensity (average 7 days) in the lumbar spine on NRS 0-10: ≥2.5

Exclusion criteria

orthopedic diagnosis (i.e. specific type of LBP);
frequent intake of analgesics (>4 days/week);
pharmacological therapy or diseases affecting muscle metabolism (e.g., glucocorticoids);
no contraindications for WB-EMS application (e.g., epilepsy, cardiac pacemaker, thrombosis, and total endoprosthesis)