Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Physical Therapy - Department of Basic Science

Background: Low back pain (LBP) is the most common musculoskeletal condition affecting the adult population.Sixty to eighty percent of people will suffer at least one episode of LBP sometimes in their lives;whilst many recover regardless of the treatment they are given. Mechanical low back pain (MLBP) is a major cause of illness and disability, especially in people of working age. Purpose:Tocompare between the effect of aquatic exercise and land-based exercises on pain level,functional disability and lumbar range of motion (ROM) insubject with chronic mechanical low back pain (CMLBP).Subjects:Sixty patients with chronic mechanical low back pain of both gender participated in the study: 17 male and 43 female with agebetween 25 and 40 years old. They were divided randomly and equally into two groups: a study group (A), in which patients received land basedexercise program; and study group (B), in which patients received aquatic exercise program. Both groups received the treatment program for 50 min, three times per week, for 4 weeks, outcome measurements such as pain using visual analogue scale (VAS),functional disabilities using oswestry disability index questionnaire (ODI), lumbar flexion,extension range of motion using modified modified shober test and lumbar right and left side bending using finger to floor technique were measured before and after treatment. Results:There were significant improvement in all outcome measures in favor of the water exercises group (p< 0.001). In land exercise group, there were significant improvement regarding pain intensity,Oswestry disability index, and lumbar flexion (P<0.0001), except for extension, right and left side bending range of motion outcomes (p > 0.05). However, there were significant improvement regarding all outcome measure in water exercise group (P<0.0001) when comparing the pre-treatment with post-treatment results

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