ULTRASOUND IMAGING AS A FEEDBACK TOOL TO MEASURE THE EFFICACY OF CORE STABILITY EXERCISES VS SPINAL MOBILIZATION TECHNIQUE IN PATIENTS WITH LOW BACK PAIN. A RANDOMIZED CLINICAL TRIAL

Objectives: To compare the effectiveness of core stability exercises versus spinal mobilization on pain, functional ability and muscular thickness in patients with low back pain. Method: The randomized control trial was conducted in Department of Rehabilitation Sciences at Ziauddin Hospital, Clifton Campus, Karachi, Pakistan from October 2017 to august 2018 on a sample of 60 individuals suffering from low back pain. They were randomized in to two equal groups by a lottery method. Group A was treated with spinal mobilization while Group B with core stability exercises whereas data was analyzed by SPSS 21. Result: The mean age of enrolled participants was 43.57 +/- 9.60 years, in which 43.3% were male and 56.7% were female. The paired t test was used to analyze the pre-intervention reading of the baseline treatment and post intervention reading of 12 sessions. The participants were divided into two groups in such a way that group A was treated with spinal mobilization and group B with Core stability exercises. The analysis showed that Group B was more effective in improving muscular thickness(p-<0.000), functional ADLS and intensity of pain(p-< 0.000) than the other research group. Conclusion: Core stability was more effective then spinal mobilization exercises for the treatment of low back pain.