Effect of inductive shortwave on chronic non-specific low back pain in sedentary individuals

AIMS: To evaluate the efficacy of inductive shortwave treatment in sedentary individuals with non-specific chronic low back pain. METHODS: A quasi-experimental and cross-over trial was performed with sedentary individuals with chronic back pain. The sample was recruited among students from the State University of Western Parana (Unioeste), aged between 18 and 25 years old, who had low back pain of non-traumatic postural origin for more than three months, were sedentary, and accepted to participate in the study. The intervention protocol consisted in the application of short waves by inductive method for 15 minutes, once a day, three times a week, with interval of one day between each application. In the following week, volunteers also received placebo treatment three times a week, with time similar to that performed in the treatment week, but the equipment was only switched on, without emission of the electromagnetic field. The protocol was applied for two weeks. The variables analyzed were the degree of functional disability, assessed by the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) and the Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire (QIRM), at the beginning of the experiment and at the end of each week; and pain, assessed by the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), before and after each session. Data were presented as mean and standard deviation or median and quartiles, and the accepted level of significance was 5%. RESULTS: Twenty volunteers participated in the study. For ODI, there was a reduction in the disability values throughout the treatment week, with a return to previous values in the placebo week; there were no differences between treatment and placebo for the MIRR. By VAS, there was a reduction in pain intensity over the three days of therapy, which occurred only on the second day of the placebo. CONCLUSIONS: Treatment with short waves in the inductive modality was effective in reducing pain in sedentary patients with chronic low back pain, contributing to improve functional capacity.