EFFECTS OF LATISSIMUS DORSI STRETCHING ON FUNCTIONAL DISABILITY RELATED TO CHRONIC LOW BACK PAIN

soi: 21-2017/re-trjvol05iss01p208

Abstract

Objective: To determine effects of latissimus dorsi stretching on functional disability related to chronic low back pain. Methodology: A single group pretest-posttest design trial was conducted in NOSIS clinics Mansehra Pakistan. Patients with the age between 20-60 years had chronic mechanical low back pain lasting for 7-12 weeks were included in the study. A total of n=64 randomly divided into experimental and control group, those received stabilization exercises (SE) plus latissimus dorsi stretching (LDS) and stabilization exercises alone respectively. Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) was used to determine functional disability. The level of significance was set at 95% CI (p≤0.05). Results: A total of n=61 participants participated in the study. The mean age of the study participants was 39.60 ± 10.02 and sitting time was 6.54± 1.23. It was observed that both the experimental group {p<0.001, ɳp²=0.934} and control group {p<0.001, ɳp²=0.875} significantly improved the ODI score with large effect size after 4 weeks of intervention. However, between the comparison showed significant improvement with large effect size in experimental group as compared to control group, after first week (p<0.001), and 2nd week (p<0.001) of intervention. Conclusion: the combination of spinal stabilization exercises and stretching of latissimus dorsi effective in improving functional disability related to chronic low back pain.