Effects of stability exercises in water on pain intensity and balance indexes in subjects with nonspecific chronic low back pain

Pain and instability are the most common problems in patients with chronic low back pain and the main causes of disability in these individuals. Many studies have been performed on the effects of aquatic exercises on the treatment of individuals with back pain. However, the effect of stability exercises in water on pain intensity and balance indexes in subjects with nonspecific chronic low back pain (CLBP) has been less studied. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the effect of stabilization training in water on pain and balance in males with nonspecific CLBP. This quasi-experimental study was performed on 24 male patients who were referred to the clinic of Ghaem Hospital, Mashhad, Iran, and were diagnosed with nonspecific CLBP in 2012. Participants were selected by purposive sampling method randomly and were divided into two groups of intervention and control. The intervention group performed stabilization exercises in water for 6 weeks (3 sessions per week) under the supervision of the researcher and the control group did not perform any exercises. The pain and balance indices [overall, anterior–posterior (AP), and medial–lateral (ML)] were measured, respectively, by the Quebec Back Pain Disability Scale and the Biodex Stability System before and immediately after exercise. For data analysis, two-way repeated measures ANOVA was applied using SPSS18 at the significant level of P ≤ 0.05. Our finding showed that mean pain intensity scores of the two interventional and control groups differed significantly (P = 0.001); pain score had significantly decreased in the intervention group compared to the control group. Moreover, a significant improvement was observed in the interventional group compared to the control group in terms of the balance variable in the AP (P = 0.036), ML (P = 0.006), and overall (P = 0.005) indices. The findings revealed that stabilization exercise in water reduces pain and improves balance in patients with nonspecific CLBP.