Efficacy of Core Musculature Strengthening on Postural Sway

• Main Authors: Sweeta Priyadarshini, AD Gopalswami
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: JCDR Research and Publications Private Limited 2019-07-01
• Series: Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research
• Subjects: core muscle weakness; low back pain; lumbar lordosis; postural stability; sway meter physiotherapy
• Online Access: https://jcdr.net/articles/PDF/12995/34644_CE[Ra1]_F(KM)_PF1(AG_SHU)_PFA(SHU)_PB(AG_SL)_PN(SL).pdf

Introduction: Low Back Pain (LBP) is the most frequent cause of activity limitation among younger population. Among Indian population, 23% of the working adults, majority of whom are blue collar job holders, experience LBP. One of the numerous negative impacts of it is decreased postural control and hence sways of static posture. This may occur due to weak core musculature, an associated phenomenon in LBP. Increased postural sway is believed to be an attributor for higher risk of falls and injury. Aim: To analyse the effect of core muscle strengthening on minimising postural sway and thereby preventing risk of falls, averting unnecessary energy expenditure and subsequent injury. Materials and Methods: Thirty subjects of both genders, age: 20-50 years, experiencing LBP with or without radicular symptoms of more than three months’ duration of non-traumatic aetiology were recruited for the study. Subjects were allocated to intervention and control groups with (n=15) in each group. Both the groups had closely age matched individuals and those belonging to control group were asymptomatic. Initial evaluation was performed to obtain baseline measures of the variables: postural sway, lumbar lordosis and core strength. Both groups had undergone supervised core muscle strengthening program which included lower abdominal series, semi sit-ups, sit-ups with rotation, lateral bridge for one-week duration. Following which, post-intervention measures of variables were obtained and data was subjected to statistical analysis using Wilcoxon signed rank test which was used to compare the variables within the groups before and after exercise program. Mann-Whitney test was utilised to analyse variations following exercises between the cases and controls. Results: Subjects belonging to intervention group did not achieve significant reduction in postural sway after stabilisation program. Although, their stability improved due to increased core muscle strength. The controls demonstrated significant reduction of postural sway in the Medio-Lateral direction, but did not impact on core strength. Conclusion: No significant difference was observed in postural sway between symptomatic and control subjects. Although, there is a good scope for future studies with larger sample size and increased duration of intervention.