Exercise, vitality and health EVIS

Low back pain is the main cause of disability in Spain, exercise has shown certain benefits in this ailment and could be a safe and effective alternative as an adjuvant in the treatment. The aim is to design a training programme focused on strength and flexibility work to improve the recovery process. Sixty patients (30 women), aged 57.1 ± 9.9 years, were divided into a control group (CG; n = 30; 56.4 ± 9.5 years) and an intervention group (IG; n = 30; 58.3 ± 10.4 years and 71.1 ± 11.3 kg) to which a 4-week training programme was applied. Quality of life, pain, pharmacological treatment and aspects of physical fitness were assessed before and after training. Inter- and intra-group differences were analysed using ANOVA, Mann-Whitney U test and Willcoxon ranks). All patients improved their quality of life, pathology severity index, perceived health and decreased medication (all p < .05). However, only the group of patients who train (GI) improve their strength and flexibility levels (both p < .05); they improve their pathology severity index more, achieving higher strength and flexibility values, higher quality of life, lower pain and lower medication intake than the control group (all p < .05).