Comparison among the Short-Term Effect of Massage Therapy, Central Stability Exercise and Combination Method on Limits of Stability in Patients with Chronic Non-Specific Low Back Pain

Aims: Nowadays, balance and postural control index is assessed as one of the main parameters in the assessment of persons with neuromuscular and musculoskeletal disorders. The aim of the study was to investigate the short term effects of massage therapy, core stability exercises and combined stability exercises on the stability limits in patients with chronic non-specific low back pain.
In the semi-experimental study, 30 male patients with chronic non-specific LBP, referred to the physiotherapy clinics of 1 and 3 districts of Tehran City, were studied in 2013. The subjects were selected via random sampling method, were randomly divided into three groups including massage therapy, core stability exercise, and combined stability exercises. 12-session treatment protocols (4 weeks) were conducted in the groups under the therapist’s supervision. The force plate device was used to measure the reaction time (RT), movement velocity (MV), maximum excursion (ME), and end point of excursion (EPE) in eight different directions. Data was analyzed by SPSS 16 software using ANCOVA test.
Findings: After the treatment interventions, the combined exercises improved RT at directions 3 (right lateral) and 8 (left anterior) more than the stability exercises and massage therapy. In addition, more improvement in MV was recorded at the direction 2 (right anterior) compared to the stability exercises. ME records of stability and combined exercises groups were significantly different at direction 7 (left lateral) only (p Despite the fact that each treatment intervention has short term effects on the stability limits of patients with chronic non-specific LBP, it seems that the combination of core stability exercises and massage therapy is more effective than each one solely.