Clinical Research Directory

The Effectiveness of Pilates Exercise on Chronic Low Back Pain of The Older Adults

Sponsor: National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University

Summary

Background: Low-back pain is one of the most common health conditions worldwide. It is defined as pain below the costal margin and above the inferior gluteal folds. Due to aging, older adults experience pain, which can threaten their safety, autonomy, and independence, limit their social interactions, and reduce their quality of life. In exercise therapy, Pilates is considered effective for strengthening core muscles, improving muscle endurance, enhancing spinal control, and promoting trunk stability, thereby minimizing joint load. However, current research has focused on younger populations and lacks detailed descriptions of exercise interventions, making it unclear whether Pilates core exercises would benefit middle-aged and older adults.Therefore, this study incorporates resistance bands and yoga blocks into a Pilates regimen, emphasizing hip mobility exercises and gluteus medius strengthening to enhance the effectiveness of Pilates in treating chronic low back pain. This study aims to design a Pilates exercise therapy program for CLBP that includes hip mobility improvement and gluteus medius training to improve pain, disability level, hip mobility, gluteus medius strength, gluteal endurance, emotional function, participants' ratings of improvement and satisfaction, and participants' intention toward treatment.Purpose: This study targets individuals aged 40 to 69 with chronic low back pain and aims to:Develop an 8-week Pilates core exercise program focusing on gluteal strengthening and increased hip mobility, conducted three times per week for 60 minutes per session, to assess the effectiveness of primary outcome variables (pain, disability) and secondary outcome variables (emotional function, gluteus medius strength, gluteal endurance, hip mobility, satisfaction, self-efficacy).Methods: A single-blind randomized group design will be used in this study. Participants must be aged between 40 and 69 and have had low back pain for more than three months. They will be randomly assigned to either a control group or a Pilates intervention group.Outcome measurement:Outcome measurements include the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) for pain, the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), gluteus medius strength measured by microFET3, hip mobility, self-efficacy for exercise (SEE-C), and the Patient Global Impression of Change (PGIC) scale.

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