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Patients with lower back pain are finding relief through deep core muscle exercises at St. John’s Physical Therapy Center. KSMU’s Michele Skalicky reports.

Carolyn Sissell has been suffering from lower back pain for a little more than 3 years. She’s been diagnosed with two bulging disks as well as degenerative disease from arthritis.
For the last several months she’s been working with physical therapists at St. John’s Health System to find relief from her pain.
Sissell is not alone in her suffering. Jeff Potts, physical therapist at St. John’s says lower back pain is a huge problem. It’s believed that 80% of the population will experience back pain at some point.

"And the impact on lost hours at work and responsibilities at home are quite large in the overall scheme of medical treatment."

There are a number of causes from traumatic injury to poor body mechanics and lifting.
St. John’s physical therapists have used motor control exercise or specific stabilization exercise for several years now. It’s a form of exercise for back pain that has gained the attention of researches and health practitioners over the past decade. An article in the January issue of the Physical Therapy Journal indicates this approach is evidence-based.
These exercises focus on the small muscle groups—the deep core muscles—to help stabilize the spine.
Potts says the exercise routine is subtle in its technique.

"You only need to use about 30% of contraction and so a patient is thinking 'well, I'm not doing much because I'm not feeling it very much as far as the effort, but it's very important to train those muscle groups."

It’s a home-based philosophy. Once the patient learns to isolate and use certain muscles, they can apply the technique to common household chores.

"Such as mopping the floor or pulling laundry out of the laundry bin or going on a walk or mowing the grass."

Specific stabilization exercise is just one piece of the puzzle, according to Potts. It’s often used in conjunction with other forms of therapy.
Caroline Sissell has been doing the exercises learned at St. John’s Physical Therapy along with pain management at the hospital.
She says one of the biggest things she’s gained from her physical therapy is the confidence from being able to do things for herself.

"They're teaching me what muscles to use to stand up with, what muscles to use to lift with, muscles whenever you are trying to do some task. I kind of got into the habit of using every muscle in my body but not really the one that needed to be used to get the task finished and completed, and they've just given me more confidence in being able to get that done."

She says it’s difficult at first to learn to isolate the muscles that need to be used for a particular task, but repetition helps.
Now that she’s learned how, she’ll continue to stay focused.

"It will be very helpful because, for me, it's a lifelong thing. It's not something that's just going to go away."

According to researchers, motor control exercise allows back pain patients to be more physically active and experience more positive effects over a longer period of time than those who receive other treatments.
For KSMU News, I’m Michele Skalicky.


 

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