Pilates exercise in managing chronic lower back pain

Abstract

Chronic lower back pain (CLBP) is one of the most common types of pain experienced by adults. This dissertation explores the effectiveness of Pilates exercise regarding CLBP. Pilates is a group of exercises aimed to strengthen the core. The research question was: Does Pilates exercise decrease CLBP? Subsequently the PICO elements established were as follows: Population concerning adults with chronic lower back pain, Intervention using the Pilates exercise, Comparison with no Pilates exercise and outcome of pain prevalence. The inclusion criteria were those of Studies published from 2010 onwards in the English language, containing full text, being peer reviewed and RCTs, Meta-analysis or Systematic reviews. Furthermore, participants needed to be aged 18 or older, have CLBP lasting more than 12 weeks. Lastly, the studies needed to include the use of Pilates exercise as the main intervention and measure pain as an outcome. The exclusion criteria were studies published before 2010, not in English, not containing full text, not peer reviewed and not randomized control trials, Meta-analysis and Systematic reviews. In addition, participants aged less than 18 years, and who had pain not in the lower region of the back and no chronic pain lasting more than 12 weeks were also excluded. Furthermore, studies not using the Pilates method as the intervention and not measuring pain as an outcome were excluded. The outcome of the search resulted in a total of five RCTs used as key studies to answer the PICO question. These studies were critically appraised using the CASP tools. The main findings of this dissertation were that Pilates does decrease Chronic lower back pain. Recommendations for further research were: more male focused studies, include economic analysis, involve patients with longer periods of CLBP as well as local studies with follow-ups.