Lumbar stabilization exercises Vs General spinal exercises

Objective: To compare the effectiveness of lumbar stabilization exercises (LSE) with general spinal exercises (GSE) in patients with postero lateral disc herniations. Methods: The randomized controlled trial was conducted A sample of 50 patients was taken from February 2010 to April 2010; and they were randomly placed either in control or experimental group, 25 patients in each group. Results: The progress of all the patients was measured on a unified scale describing 5 disability variables, pain intensity, walking, standing, sleeping and social activity according to modified Oswestry Scale. All participants performed their particular therapeutic exercise with their regular sessions of physical therapy for 4 weeks. By summing up the total of 5 variables, a total pre-exercise and post exercise score were obtained. This total disability score of the two groups were analyzed statistically and t- test was applied which shows statistically significant results with p = 0.000007 Conclusion: Hence patients who performed LSE protocols improved significantly better with lower disability scores compared with patients who had GSE protocols.