Effect of Pelvic Floor Muscle Strengthening Exercises in Chronic Low Back Pain

Low back pain (LBP) is a condition of localized pain to the lumbar spine. The pelvic floor muscle (PFM)
have an important role in proper muscular activation for lumbar stabilization and also in unloading
the spine. It was hypothesized that PFM exercise could be of benefit for patients with chronic LBP. After
ethical approval, a randomized controlled trial was carried out on 30 females with chronic LBP. Patients
were randomly allocated into two groups: an experimental and a control group. The control group was
given conventional physiotherapy treatment including modality and exercises; and the experimental
group received PFM strengthening with conventional therapy for 5 times per week upto 4 weeks. Pain
intensity and functional disability by Oswestry Disability Index were measured before and after
intervention . In both groups pain and functional disability were significantly reduced following
treatment (p < 0.01). Also the significant difference was found between the two groups (p > 0.05). It
seems that the PFM exercise combined with conventional treatment was effective over conventional
treatment alone in females with chronic LBP.