Effects of a three-month active rehabilitation program on psychomotor performance of lower limbs in subjects with low back pain: a controlled study with a nine-month follow-up.

Proper psychomotor performance is needed in work and in activities of daily living, but among subjects with low back pain this area has been studied little. The present purpose was to evaluate the effect and permanence of a 3-mo. physical exercise program on the psychomotor performance of lower limbs in subjects with low back pain. The associations between psychomotor performance and intensity of low back pain and subjective disability were also evaluated. 90 subjects with nonspecific, subacute low back pain were assigned to one of the three groups: one given three months intensive training, one home exercise, or the control group. Four measurement sessions were made during the 1-yr. study. Psychomotor speed of lower limbs was analyzed with Choice Reaction Time, Movement Time, and Total Response Time. Flight Time of a vertical static jump was also measured. Muscle strength was assessed with conventional methods from trunk, lower limbs, and hand. Intensity of Current Back Pain was analyzed with the Borg scale. Subjective disability was evaluated with the Oswestry Index. Analysis showed that muscle strength and back pain intensity had associations with psychomotor performance but subjective disability or physical activity did not affect it noticeably. There were no changes in Choice Reaction Time, but Total Response Time and Movement Time decreased and Flight Time increased for all subjects. In the first postintervention measurement the home exercise group had significantly lower Movement Time than the intensively trained group. Back Pain Intensity decreased in both exercise groups for those subjects whose psychomotor performance values were below the mean value for the sample.

RCT Entities:   Population Interventions Outcomes