Effect of Core Stabilizing Training on Young Individuals Presenting Different Stages of Degenerative Disc Disease-Preliminary Report.

Tomasz Kuligowski,Błażej Cieślik,Anna Skrzek,Agnieszka Dębiec-Bąk,Natalia Kuciel

doi:10.3390/ijerph18073499

Abstract

The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy of stabilizing training for the deep core muscles of the lumbar spine in subjects with degenerative disc disease. This study was conducted on 38 participants. The participants were divided into two groups: the extrusion group (EXT, n = 17) and the protrusion group (PRO, n = 21). All the subjects underwent a four-week-long core stability exercise-based treatment (five sessions/week). Clinical outcome measures were assessed pre-intervention (pre), post-intervention (post) and four weeks after the intervention (follow-up). The primary outcome measures were the spinal range of motion (ROM; Spinal Mouse® device) and the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI). In the PRO group, the ROM decreased from 88.52° pre-intervention to 83.33° post-intervention and to 82.82° at follow-up (p = 0.01), while the ODI decreased from 16.14 points pre-intervention to 6.57 points post-intervention, with 9.42 points at follow-up (p < 0.01). In the EXT group, the ROM decreased from 81.00° pre-intervention to 77.05° post-intervention, then increased to 77.94° at follow-up (p = 0.03), while the ODI decreased from 22.58 points pre-intervention to 15.41 points post-intervention and to 14.70 points at follow-up (p < 0.001). Although the stabilizing exercise sessions improved the clinical outcomes in each group, we cannot make conclusions as to whether the type of intervertebral disc damage significantly affects the results of stabilizing exercise-based treatment.

Highlights

The present study examined another criterion for the division of patients, namely, the type of damage to the intervertebral disc
Rasmussen–Barr et al demonstrated the effectiveness of stabilizing exercise in people suffering from subacute Degenerative disc disease (DDD), they did not explicitly divide subjects by the type of damage to the intervertebral disc [30]
This study is one of the few to examine the effects of core stability exercise in individuals with DDD, with a distinction between the degree of progression into protrusion and extrusion

Summary

Introduction

Degenerative disc disease (DDD) is one of the main causes of low back pain and contributes to the socioeconomic problems [1,2]. Despite little to no innervation of the intervertebral disc, its pathology negatively affects many other structures in its proximity, such as the highly innervated posterior longitudinal ligament, spinal dura mater and nerve roots, which can cause a number of pathological conditions leading to pain [3]. Degenerative disc disease is a progressive condition. The clinical parameters of individuals with symptoms of a protruded or extruded lumbar disc are known to vary depending on the progression level of the disease and are usually recognized as acute, subacute and chronic phases depending on the symptoms, such as pain, functional outcome and ability to work [5]

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