Influence of therapeutic exercises on quality of life indices in patients with chronic spine pain

Tetiana Bojczuk
Grzegorz Przysada
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Łukasz Strzępek
Z Instytutu Fizjoterapii Uniwersytetu Rzeszowskiego
Institute of Physiotherapy, Medical Department, University of Rzeszow, Rzeszów, Poland
Ze Szpitala MSWiA w Rzeszowie

Abstract

Introduction: Lower back pain syndrome (common called low back pains) is one of a main causes of long-term job absence among the working peoples and a common cause of physical disability and invalidism. Goal: Study of the influence of therapeutic exercises on the selected life-quality aspects among patients suffering from chronic spine aches. Materials: The research was conducted by the Department of Kinesitherapy at the local hospital (MSWiA) in Rzeszow, Poland, between November 2008 and April 2009. The studied group comprised 35 patients (20 female and 15 male), all of whom were diagnosed, by means of the radiological examination, with lumbar discopathy and/or lumbar spondylosis. Moreover, the pains were chronic-like and remained so for a period of 3 months (or more) among all of the patients. A set of therapeutic exercises were undertaken for a period of 20 days. Method: The participants were asked to complete an anonymous questionnaire twice, i.e. prior and after the treatment program. The survey consisted of the ‘personal information’ section (age, gender, type of job, place of residence, etc.) and the life-quality-related questions. Additionally, the Roland-Morris Questionnaire (RMQ) and the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) were used as means of measuring the quality of life among patients suffering from lower back pains. Conclusions: Positive influence of the therapeutic exercises has been identified on a number of occasions, such as: every-day limitations, relations with friends, ways of spending leisure time, quality of sexual life, etc. Moreover, the pain levels, measured by the VAS scale, lowered significantly, and the selected life-quality aspects, examined by the RMQ questionnaire, improved.

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