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Abstract

Background: Aerobic exercise is recommended starting from the subacute phase of low back pain, which can increase daily activities. This study aims to analyse the effect of adding walking aerobic exercise on pain intensity and disability status of mechanical chronic low back pain in office workers at Dr. Soetomo Hospital. Methods: True experimental with pre-test and post-test randomized control group design. Each group consisted of 16 respondents. The treatment group received walking aerobic exercise therapy three times a week for 30 minutes with gradually increasing intensity and conventional low back pain exercises for eight weeks. The control group only received conventional exercise therapy 3x/week for eight weeks. The parameters evaluated in this study were pain intensity values using NPRS and disability status using ODI. Measurements were made twice, namely before and after eight weeks of intervention. Results: There was a significant improvement in the NPRS score in the treatment group and the control group (p<0.000 and p<0.001), but there was no difference between the two groups after the intervention (p=1.000), and there was no difference (delta) in the NPRS score between groups (p=0.714). Improvements in ODI scores were found in the treatment and control groups (p<0.000 and p<0.001), and there were differences between the groups after the intervention (p<0.001), and there were significant differences (delta) in ODI between the two groups after the intervention (p<0.001). Conclusion: Addition of walking aerobic exercise to conventional mechanical chronic low back pain exercises can synergistically benefit in decreasing pain intensity and disability status after eight weeks.