Water Exercises for Back Pain

The effects of aquatic exercise on body composition and nonspecific low back pain in elderly males.

Khadijeh Irandoust, PhD and Morteza Taheri, PhD, from the Department of Physical Education, Imam Khomeini International University, Iran, February 2015

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of aquatic exercises on nonspecific low back pain (LBP) in elderly males.

Subjects and Methods

Thirty-two elderly men aged 65 or older were recruited and randomly allocated to two groups: aquatic training (3 days per week for 12 weeks) or a control group. Body mass index (BMI), percentage of body fat (PBF), waist-hip ratio (WHR), and trunk muscle mass were measured before and after training.

Results

The results suggested that all obesity variables including Body mass index (BMI), waist-hip ratio (WHR), and percentage of body fat (PBF) of the aquatic training group were decreased significantly, while the trunk muscle mass of the aquatic training group was increased significantly. Furthermore, low back pain was decreased in the subjects after the intervention.

Conclusion

The water-based program improved low back pain and body composition in the elderly men.

Reference:
Journal of Physical Therapy Science

[PMCID: PMC4339154], PMID: 25729184 [PubMed]