Efficacy of aquatic therapy on electromyography indexes and pain intensity in men with non-specific chronic low back pain

Movement therapy has known as a method to reduce pain and increase muscle strength in patients with low back pain. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of aquatic therapy on maximum muscle activity and pain intensity in men with non-specific chronic low back pain.

Thirty male subjects with non-specific chronic low back pain were randomly divided into two aquatic therapy group (n=15) and control group (n=15). Before and after intervention, subjects were assessed by maximum activity of lumbar erector spine muscles and pain severity. A 24 session protocol of aquatic therapy, sixty minutes per session lasting for 6 weeks and four sessions a week were applied. Subjects in control group didn’t receive any therapeutic modality during the study period. The collected data were analyzed using independent-T test and paired samples-T test. The significance level was (p≤0.05).

No significant difference before and after intervention in maximum muscle activity of the Right and left upper and lower lumbar-erector spine muscles were observed (p>0/05). However, the results about the pain intensity between the two groups showed significant difference in pre and post-test (p

Aquatic therapy program had no significant effect on electromyography activity of erector spine muscles and disorders of lumbar muscles in men with NCLBP. However, this method of treatment reduced pain intensity in these patients significantly, that this reduction in pain may be due to neurological and physiological factors.