Examining the Effect of Adding Breathing Exercises and Pain Neuroscience Education to Home-Based Routine Exercises in Patients with Chronic Non-Specific Low Back Pain: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Abstract

Introduction: To examine the effect of adding breathing exercises and pain neuroscience education to home-based routine exercises on pain intensity, disability, and muscular endurance in patients with chronic non-specific low back pain.

Materials and Methods: 37 participants (mean age: 10.60 ± 37 years, height: 8.87 ± 170 cm, and weight: 10.55 ± 73 kg) with chronic non-specific low back pain were randomly divided into control (n=18) and experimental (n=19) groups. Pain (Visual Analog Scale), disability (Roland Morris Questionnaire), and muscular endurance (McGill test) were assessed before and after the intervention in the experimental group. Patients in both groups performed 8 weeks of home exercises. The experimental group also performed breathing exercises and received 3 sessions of pain neuroscience education in addition to home exercises. Multivariate analysis of covariance was used to analyze the results.

Results: The results of analysis of covariance showed that adding pain neuroscience education and breathing exercises to home exercises compared to home exercises alone significantly improved pain (p=0.001), disability (p=0.001), and muscular endurance (p=0.001) variables.

Discussion and Conclusion: Combining pain neuroscience education with breathing exercises can have positive effects on pain, disability, and muscular endurance in patients with chronic non-specific low back pain. Therefore, it is recommended to use this intervention as a complementary therapeutic approach in individuals with chronic non-specific low back pain.

Keywords: Chronic non-specific low back pain, Breathing exercises, Disability, Pain neuroscience education, Muscular endurance