Abstract
Objective
To determine whether interferential current (IFC) before Pilates exercises is more
effective than placebo in patients with chronic nonspecific low back pain.
Design
Two-arm randomized controlled trial, with a blinded assessor, and 6 months follow-up.
Setting
Clinic of a school of physical therapy.
Participants
The random sample consisted of patients (N=148) of both sexes, with age between 18
and 80 years and chronic nonspecific low back pain. In addition, participants were
recruited by disclosure of the treatment in the media.
Interventions
Patients were allocated into 2 groups: active IFC + Pilates or placebo IFC + Pilates.
In the first 2 weeks, patients were treated for 30 minutes with active or placebo
IFC. In the following 4 weeks, 40 minutes of Pilates exercises were added after the
application of the active or placebo IFC. A total of 18 sessions were offered during
6 weeks.
Main Outcome Measures
The primary outcome measures were pain intensity, pressure pain threshold, and disability
measured at 6 weeks after randomization.
Results
No significant differences were found between the groups for pain (0.1 points; 95%
confidence interval, −0.9 to 1.0 points), pressure pain threshold (25.3kPa; 95% confidence
interval, −4.4 to 55.0kPa), and disability (0.4 points; 95% confidence interval, −1.3
to 2.2). However, there was a significant difference between baseline and 6-week and
6-month follow-ups in the intragroup analysis for all outcomes (P<.05), except pressure pain threshold in the placebo IFC + Pilates group.
Conclusions
These findings suggest that active IFC before Pilates exercise is not more effective
than placebo IFC with respect to the outcomes assessed in patients with chronic nonspecific
low back pain.
Keywords
List of abbreviations:
CLBP (chronic low back pain), IFC (interferential current), PPT (pressure pain threshold)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: October 19, 2016
Footnotes
Supported by São Paulo Research Foundation (process no. 2013/17303-6). São Paulo Research Foundation was not involved in the data collection or analysis.
Clinical Trial Registration No.: NCT01919268.
Disclosures: none.
Identification
Copyright
© 2016 by the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine
