Immediate Effects of Bowen Technique Versus Dynamic Soft Tissue Mobilization on Hamstrings Tightness in Chronic Non-specific Low Back Pain.

Hamstring Tightness Clinical Trial

Official title:

Immediate Effects of Bowen Technique Versus Dynamic Soft Tissue Mobilization on Hamstrings Tightness in Chronic Non-specific Low Back Pain.

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Recruiting

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT05935163
• Other study ID #: FUI/CTR/2023/10
• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: January 1, 2023
• Est. completion date: August 1, 2023

Study information

• Verified date: July 2023
• Source: Foundation University Islamabad
• Contact: Maryam Tariq, MS MSKPT
• Phone: +923165360826
• Email: marytareq2097[@]gmail.com
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

Low back pain (LBP) is leading cause of disability and its burden is growing worldwide with an increasing and ageing of population. Poor flexibility or tightness of hamstring muscle has been associated with low back pain. It is a prominent cause of activity limitations and work absenteeism throughout world. Hence this study was designed to find out superior form of effective technique on active knee extension and experience of pain and disability in chronic nonspecific low back pain.

Description:

Low back pain (LBP) is leading cause of disability and it is most leading cause of work absenteeism throughout world. Poor flexibility or tightness of hamstring muscle has been associated with low back pain. Hence this study was designed to find out superior form of effective technique on hamstrings tightness and experience of pain and disability in chronic nonspecific low back pain. This study will also assist to set the foundation for further more studies designing magnificent protocols of treatment for affected population.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Recruiting
• Enrollment: 42
• Est. completion date: August 1, 2023
• Est. primary completion date: July 15, 2023
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: All
• Age group: 18 Years to 45 Years

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• The patients aged 18-45 years will be included in the study.
• Patients with chronic low back pain (more than 3 months) will be included.
• Both genders.
• 20 to 40 degrees active knee extension loss with hip in 90 degree flexion
• Pain Intensity (moderate to severe) NPRS (4-6 intensity)

Exclusion Criteria:

• Individuals who were receiving treatment for their pain with another(medical treatment) at the same time
• Patients who had undergone vertebral column surgery (less than three months before the time of this study).
• Patients with the infection, neoplasms, metastasis, rheumatoid arthritis, fractures or inflammatory processes were excluded.
• Dislocations of lower limb
• Hypermobility of lower limb joint
• Hamstrings injuries
• Nerve lesions of lower limb

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Back Pain
• Hamstring Tightness
• Low Back Pain

Intervention

Procedure:
• Conventional therapy for hamstring tightness
Conventional Physical therapy will include TENS , hot pack , Hamstring self stretch , Calf self stretching , bridging exercise , piriformis stretch , prone on hands and prone on elbows.
• Bowen Technique
Bowen Technique: The patient will assume a full prone-lying position on the plinth. Sequence of short gentle moves will be applied over hamstrings. Firstly, the thumbs will be placed on top of the hamstrings muscle and the tightness is assessed. Then, the muscle will be hooked by the thumbs from its lateral edge. Then, gentle pressure will be applied to the point of resistance to challenge the muscle in medial direction, as the thumbs will be flattened in medial direction, the muscle will pluck under the thumbs. First with the thumbs, then will be followed by the fingers. Often, the hands are placed with a distance of inch of space between the thumbs and fingers so that the hands performed the technique on the muscle easily. The whole procedure will be repeated again. The treatment time for each session will be 20 minutes for each side.
• Dynamic Soft Tissue Mobilization (DSTM):
To access the hamstring muscle group, the subject will be asked to attain prone position and deep longitudinal strokes will be applied to the entire muscle group. Once the specific area of hamstring muscle tightness will be located, the remaining treatment will be limited to this target area. To execute the dynamic intervention, the subject will be requested to move in the supine position with the hip and knee flexed to 90 degree. Deep longitudinal strokes will be applied in a distal to proximal direction to the area of hamstring tightness and the leg will be passively moved to knee extension. Five strokes will be applied and 20 seconds of shaking is performed at the completion of this technique. This treatment will be given for 20 minutes on each side.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
Pakistan	Fauji Foundation Hospital Department of Rehabilitation	Rawalpindi	Punjab

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Foundation University Islamabad

Country where clinical trial is conducted

Pakistan, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Active knee extension test	active knee extension test, the participant will be in supine-lying position on the treatment bed. Then, participant will flex the hip to 90° while keeping the contralateral hip and knee extended on plinth. The goniometer's fulcrum will be placed on the lateral condyle of the femur at knee joint. The proximal arm of goniometer placed along with the long axis of femur, while moveable arm aligned in line with lateral malleolus. The subject will then extend the knee actively without any pain and tilting of pelvis.	4 weeks
Primary	Active straight leg raise (aSLR)	The active straight leg raise will be conducted bilaterally three times, and best out of 3 attempts will be recorded. The classic straight leg raise is a complete active test. Each leg is tested individually. When performing the aSLR test, the patient is positioned in supine without a pillow under his/her head. The starting position is described with a distance of 20cm between feet. The patient must rise the leg 20cm from the starting position maintaining the knee in complete extension. The participant will be then asked to rate the difficulty of the task using a 6- point Likert scale. 6-point Likert scale (0= not difficult at all, 1 = minimally difficult, 2 = somewhat difficult, 3= fairly difficult, 4= very difficult, and 5= unable to perform). The test is considered positive when the subjective feeling of fatigue is >3.	4 weeks
Primary	The sit-and-reach (SR) tests	The subjects sat on the flat surface with their head, back, and hips against a wall, knees straight, legs together, and soles of the feet positioned flat against Sit and Reach box. In keeping this position, the subject will be requested to extend the arms with palms down and lightly touch the index fingers together. The finger-to-box distance will be measured as the distance between the fingertips and the point at which the feet contacted to the box. Then, the subjects will be asked to bend forward slowly and reached as far forward as possible while keeping the knees extended and sliding their hands along a measuring scale placed on the box. Throughout the test, examiner will check to ensure that the heels remained at the box and that the knees are fully extended. The 0 cm mark of the measuring scale represent the position of the feet against the box, with larger values for better performance having higher flexibility.	4 weeks
Secondary	Pain intensity	Pain status of patients will be assessed using NPRS.	4 Weeks
Secondary	Disability	Disability will be assessed using RMDQ.	4 Weeks