The Effects of Active Therapeutic Exercises on the Electromyographic Activity of Lumbopelvic Muscles during Prone Hip Extension in Patients with Chronic Non-Specific Low Back Pain

Introduction: LBP is one of the most common health issues throughout the world and has multiple causes which one of them is the defect in motor patterns. This study compared the effectiveness of stability, general and mixed exercises on the electromyographic activity of ipsilateral erector spinae muscle (IES), contralateral erector spinae muscle (CES), gluteus maximus (GM) and medial hamstring (MH) during prone hip extension (PHE) in patients with nonspecific chronic low back pain (NSCLBP). Methods: The study used an interventional quasi-experimental design. Thirty patients with NSCLBP between the ages of 20 to 40 years were randomly divided into 3 groups (each with ten patients) including stability, general and mixed groups. The study was conducted in Spring and Summer of 2014 in Amir Physical Clinic in Isfahan. MVEA of the muscles was measured using surface electromyography (EMG) prior and after exercises during PHE. Exercises were done for 10 sessions and 3 times per week. The obtained data by SPSS (version 22) and using the Kolmogorov- Smirnov test, Independent t–test Paired t test and ANCOVA were analyzed. Results: MVEA of GM (P=0.036) significantly increased in the group who practiced with mixed exercises. Also‚ the exercises decreased MVEA of IES‚ MH and CES. Besides, this decrease for IES (P=0.024) was significant but for MH (P=0.973) and CES (P=0.111) were not. However, the statistical results did not show any significance among any two and or all three groups. Conclusion: The findings of this study revealed that mixed exercises are more effective than stability and general exercises on the EMG activity of lumbo- pelvic muscles and could alter the electrical activity pattern of these muscles.