Effectiveness of additional deep-water running for disability, lumbar pain intensity, and functional capacity in patients with chronic low back pain: A randomised controlled trial with 3-month follow-up.

Background: Aquatic exercise (AQE) programme is commonly used as an alternative to the chronic low back pain (CLBP) treatment. The addition of aquatic aerobic exercises to AQE may be beneficial to patients with CLBP.

Design: Randomised controlled trial.

Objectives: To assess the effectiveness of AQE with the addition of aerobic exercise - deep-water running (DWR) - compared to exclusive AQE in improving disability, lumbar pain intensity, and functional capacity in patients with CLBP.

Methods: Fifty-four adult patients with CLBP were randomised either to the experimental group (AQE + DWR) or the control group (AQE). An assessor who was blinded to the group allocation performed both pre- and post-interventions assessments. Both treatments lasted 9 weeks, with a 3-month follow-up. The primary outcome was disability, as evaluated using the Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire. The secondary outcomes were pain and functional capacity; pain was assessed using a visual analogue scale (VAS), and functional capacity (travelled distance) was measured using the 6-min walk test (6WT).

Results: A significant difference in pain was observed between groups after intervention in favour of DWR (mean difference -1.3 cm [95% confidence interval (CI) -2.17 to -0.45], d‾ = 0.80 [95% CI 0.22 to 1.33]).

Conclusion: Treatment with DWR was effective in the short term for achieving the desired outcome of pain reduction when compared with AQE only but not for disability and functional capacity.