Assessment of back and abdominal pressure, sexual frequency and quality of life

Abstract

Aims The present study was undertaken to determine the extent to which back pressure changes and abdominal pressure changes, sexual frequency and quality of life in patients with lower back pain differ from normal, and recover after a physiotherapy intervention. Methods Thirty nine lower back pain patients and 31 without lower back pain (control) were enrolled for this study. Patients were treated with dynamic muscular stabilization technique (DMST), which is an active approach of physical therapy. Pain, back pressure changes, abdominal pressure changes, sexual frequency and quality of life of normal subjects and patients were assessed at baseline and after 180 days of DMST intervention in patients. Data were analysed by Student's t-test, Pearson correlation coefficient (r) and analysis of variance with α=0.05. The control and study groups were age matched (P>0.05). Findings The DMST improved all the variables significantly (P<0.01) and the improvement was observed more in females than males. Conclusions DMST is an effective intervention for reducing pain, and restoring back pressure changes, abdominal pressure changes, sexual frequency and quality of life to normal levels in patients with lower back pain. Its success, however, does seem to depend on the sex of the patient, which suggests an area for further research.