Abstract:
Chronic low back pain (CLBP) is a common musculoskeletal disorder which is a cause for functional disability among the working population with a negative psychological impact. Treatment for CLBP may be drugs and physical therapy. Infrared radiation therapy (IRR) is a physical therapy modality used in CLBP that has not been completely evaluated to determine its efficacy. The objective of this study was to determine the efficacy of IRR for pain relief in CLBP. 48 subjects participated in this study. They were grouped into two, the control group (A;24) and treatment group (B;24).Both groups had nonsteroidal ant- inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), group B also received IRR for 30 minutes. Pain intensity, spinal mobility, functional disability, blood pressure, pulse rate were measured at baseline and at the end of six weeks. Data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics (student’s t-test and Pearson correlation coefficient) SPSS 20 for windows. The results showed that there was a significant difference in pain intensity, spinal mobility, functional disability, systolic blood pressure and pulse rates (p<0.05).Diastolic blood pressure showed no significant difference. There was a correlation between pain intensity and spinal mobility, and functional disability, but none between pain and SBP, DBP, PR. Results of this study showed that low back pain which is huge public health liability, can be relieved by IRR with an improvement in spinal mobility and disability. Blood pressure is not affected by pain intensity, there was no correlation between blood pressure, spinal mobility and pain, as against pain and spinal
mobility
