Low back pain oswestry disability index changes following 8-week movement proficiency exercise program – A retrospective cohort study

Abstract

Chronic low back pain (CLBP) is a worldwide epidemic, with a prevalence rate of 75–84% in developed countries. With the prevalence increasing, health-care professionals must question current best practice guidelines. In 2014, spinal neurosurgeon and back pain rehabilitation specialist Dr. David Johnson developed a unique back pain rehabilitation program referred to as NearoHAB®. The program’s uniqueness is founded on the principle that effective rehabilitation must eliminate the root cause of pain symptoms. The NeuroHAB® 8-week Movement therapy program aims to reverse movement dysfunction by restoring central nervous system-derived motor patterns based on proficient spinopelvic biomechanics for bending activities of daily living. To date, no other rehabilitation methodology adopts a movement dysfunction cause-based clinical model for back pain symptoms or includes a framework for what healthy lumbar pelvic movement should resemble. Over the course of the 8-week program, each participant is gradually upskilled, developing new default movement proficiency and improved biomechanics, in efforts to downregulate pain, improve disability, and increase functional movement capacity, creating a positive feedback loop for further progress. The leading question of this study is “How does functional movement-based therapy impact chronic low back pain?” Ten sets of participant details were selected at random and retrieved from the NeuroHAB® 8-week program database of 2020. All participants presented with CLBP, and two oswestry disability index (ODI) scores were documented – the first at the beginning of the 8-week program, and the second after the NeuroHAB® intervention. ODI scores were collated and the pre- and post-program results were measured and compared quantitatively through a paired t-test to determine the statistical significance of improvement. Results showed a two-tailed P=0.05 indicating that there was a significant difference between the pre- and post-data (0.0024). The pre- and post-group intervention ODI means were 25.80 and 13.30, respectively, resulting in a difference of 12.50 (95% CI: 5.73–19.27); determining the mean data between the pre- and post-intervention decreased by 48.4496%. The results from this study support the alternative hypothesis, concluding an 8-week intervention of functional movement therapy represented by NeuroHAB® results in a significant reduction of LBP ODI scores.

Effects of the NeuroHAB Program on Low Back Pain and Oswestry Disability Index Scores: A Retrospective Wait-List Control Study

“…Delivered within an 8-week movement therapy program called NeuroHAB, proficient spinal biomechanics and movement patterns are used to restore central nervous system-derived motor patterns, reversing movement dysfunction of bending and establishing new default motor skills for functional movement tasks. On the foundation of movement proficiency and less biomechanically derived pain, functional capacity can be progressively restored to meet the requirements for individual lifestyle functional demands and the basic activities of daily living [ 27 ]. NeuroHAB is a term used to distinguish itself as a central nervous system motor pattern-focused, functional, and qualitative coordination of movement approach rather than a more conventional, structural, and quantitative musculoskeletal-focused approach.…”

“…Movement proficiency for the lumbopelvic spine has not been clearly defined in published, peer-reviewed literature. We define movement proficiency criteria as follows [ 27 ].…”

“…The hip is a ball-and-socket joint with an anatomical form that functions optimally for rotation. The intersegmental lumbar spinal tripod joint system of the two zygapophyseal joints and the disco-vertebral joint is susceptible to accelerated structural deterioration with repetitive flexion and extension [ 21 , 23 , 26 , 27 ].…”