Functional efficiency in persons with lumbar spine discopathy after treatment at a health resort

Abstract

Lower back pain is the most common cause of limitation in different spheres of a person’s life. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of health-resort therapy on the functional efficiency in persons with discopathy of the lumbar spine, compared to a control group. 360 people aged 50-60 with discopathy of the lumbar spine, including 180 boarders of the “Piast” Health Resort in Iwonicz-Zdrój (experimental group) and 180 ambulatory patients of the REH-MED Non-public Healthcare Centre in Jasło (control group) were surveyed three times. The research tool was the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI). The Anova Friedman test, Wilcoxon signed-rank test and Mann-Whitney U test were used for analyses. In the study performed 3 months after the end of therapy, in the health-resort patients, the pain less often disrupted sleep (p=0.001) and locomotion (p=0.045) compared to the ambulatory group. After the end of therapy, patients from the experimental group achieved much better results regarding social life (p=0.037) and the effects persisted at constant level for 3 months after stopping treatment (p=0.505). Application procedures based on mineral resources increases efficiency of therapy aimed at improvement of functioning in daily life in persons with discopathy of the lumbar spine. Distant effects of health-resort spa therapy are especially observable in the improvement of sleep, walking ability and also in the area of social life. Puszczałowska-Lizis E., Zwiercan I. Functional efficiency in persons with lumbar spine discopathy after treatment at a health resort. Med Rehabil 2016; 20(3): 31-37. DOI: 10.5604/01.3001.0009.5012