The Effect Of Renewal Massage And Modified Squat Exercise On Body Alignment In Genu Varum Patients

Abstract

PURPOSE: This study evaluates the effect on body alignment three weeks after massage and squat exercise in patients with genu varum. METHODS: Twenty-one participants with genu varum have participated in the study and randomly assigned into 3 groups: renewal massage group(n=7), modified squart exercising group(n=8), and controlled group(n=6). A renewal massage is a full body massage that begins with the central part of the body and proceeds with the whole body. Renewal massage and modified squats exercising were carried out for three weeks, five times a week, and 40 minutes per week. Dependent variables were C-spine angle, T-spine angle, L-spine angle, sacral inclination angle, femoral-tibial angle of both right and left. Descriptive analyses including mean and standard deviation were computed for all variables using SPSS/PC ver 18.0, and the group mean difference was analyzed as ANCOVA with the pre-test values as covariates. The post-hoc test was performed with the least significant difference (LSD). The significance level set at .05. RESULTS: The ANCOVA result indicated that after controlling for differences in pre-test values, there was a significant difference in the sacral inclination angle (F[2,17] = 3.590, p<.05). The post-hoc test result showed that the renewal massage group(19.86 ± 3.18) has lower mean than control group(34.63 ± 4.07). No statistical significance difference was found on C-spine angle, T-spine angle, L-spine angle, femoral-tibial angle of both right and left. CONCLUSIONS: The three-weeks renewal massage seems to have differed only in the sacral inclination angle. Further studies are warranted to examine the effect of dose-response relationship (i.e., changing the duration and frequency) for the renewal massage.