Influence of heat therapy and/or vibration on nonspecific back pain: A prospective, open, randomized, controlled, parallel-group clinical study.

INTRODUCTION

Traditional heat therapy (HEAT) and emerging vibration therapy (VIB) have shown potential benefits in alleviating nonspecific back pain (NSBP). This randomized controlled study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of HEAT, VIB, and their combination (COMBI) in reducing pain levels and improving cardiovascular parameters in NSBP patients.

METHODS

Fifty-nine patients with NSBP were randomly assigned to 3 groups: HEAT (n=19), VIB (n=20), and COMBI (n=20). The study included three visits (V1 to V3) with interventions in V2. Pain visual analogue scale scores (ie; primary outcome, with a minimal clinically important difference (MCID) set at 10 mm on a 100 mm scale), oxy-haemoglobin saturation (SpO2), heart-rate, blood-pressure, and perfusion-index were evaluated before (V2b) and after (V2a) each intervention. During V3 (ie; telephone call one day after the intervention) only pain score was evaluated. Changes (ie; V2a-V2b, V3-V2b) were calculated.

RESULTS

All 3 therapies were clinically effective, with mean pain changes exceeding the MCID. The COMBI group showed the greatest pain reduction in mm (17 at V2, 23 at V3) compared to the VIB (15 at V2, 10 at V3) and HEAT (11 at V2, 10 at V3) groups. In comparison to the COMBI group, the VIB one exhibited a higher change in heart-rate (-2±4 vs. 3±5 bpm; -1±3 vs. 1±3 % of predicted maximum hear-rate, respectively). SpO2 change under COMBI decreased significantly by 1±1%. No significant changes were observed in blood-pressure or perfusion-index across the groups.

CONCLUSIONS

COMBI-therapy provides superior pain relief for NSBP compared to each therapy alone. RCT registration. ISRCTN registry (https://www.isrctn.com/); Trial Number: ISRCTN15769490 (https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN15769490).