Efficacy of Single Stretching Session of Iliopsoas using PNF Versus MET on Low Back Pain in Patients with Lumbar Hyper-Lordosis
Main Article Content
Abstract
Low back pain (LBP) is among one of the most common causes for which an individual seeks treatment at physiotherapy. There are numerous aetiologies of low back pain, but narrowing it to mechanical causes brings pelvic tilting to light.
In this study, we focus on the LPB related to anterior pelvic tilting, and as it occurs due to the tightness in the iliopsoas muscle the key to relieving LBP in such conditions is to stretch that muscle optimally. We have compared two stretching approaches for this purpose, they are proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) and muscle energy technique (MET), however many other stretching methods exist but these two methods have been shown highly reliable in the evidence. The people from 18-60 years of age suffering from LBP, exaggerated lumbar lordosis, and who matched the criterion for inclusion were chosen for the study. A group and B group were constructed. Participants in group A were managed by PNF and conventional physiotherapy and those in B were managed by MET and conventional physiotherapy. The same pre and post-test were carried out for each group which was the Numerical Pain Rating Scale (NPRS) used for determining intensity of pain, hip joint extension range of motion (ROM) was taken by universal goniometer for analysing iliopsoas flexibility and lumbosacral angle (LSA) was taken through an X-ray in supine for identifying lumbar lordosis angle. Significant differences were found in pain, hip extension range of motion, and lumbar lordosis angle between intervention (PNF) and control (MET) groups (P<0.0001), and much more difference was noted between pre- and post-test for intervention group than for control group.
The present study of 100 participants, showed that both the techniques PNF and MET are significantly effective for stretching the tight iliopsoas. A comparison of both techniques showed that the PNF group had benefited much more than the MET group.