Effectiveness of Kinetic Control versus Mckenzie Execises on Functional Outcomes in patients with lumbar radiculopathy – A single blinded randomized pilot study.

Background: The term lumbar radiculopathy (LR) is a condition caused by compression and/or irritation of lumbar nerve roots by intervertebral disk degeneration or herniation, degenerative arthritis, lumbar stenosis, and other conditions like bone or muscle tumors, infections, or inflammation.1,2 Physical therapy techniques to treat lumbar radiculopathy includes, Neural tissue mobilization exercises, Stabilization, Kinetic control exercises for lumbar spine, manipulation technique, Direction based Mckenzie exercises along with conventional physiotherapy. There is lack of literature on effectiveness of kinetic control and Mckenzie exercises in patients with Lumbar Radiculopathy. Hence this study is conducted to find out the which treatment will be more effective. Methodology: Study was conducted among 8 individuals of age 25-45 years having Lumbar Radiculopathy who were divided into two groups. 4 individuals of group A received Motor Control Exercises and 4 of group B received Mckenzie Exercises. Pain, Range of Motion of Lumbar Spine, Strength of Trunk muscles and Back Disability were assessed pre-intervention and immediate post-intervention. Result: A significant difference was found in both the groups for Pain (p=0.0319), Disability (p=0.018) & Flexion Range of motion of lumbar spine (p=0.002) except all other Range of motion & strength of trunk muscles (p=0.2070). When comparison done after 4 weeks the percentage of improvement in group A was much higher than group B. Conclusion: Kinetic control exercises showed significant improvement in reducing pain, disability and improving lumbar spine flexion range of motion when compared to McKenzie while there is no any difference in extension, lateral flexion range of motion and strength of trunk muscles.