OBJECTIVE: To examine the effect of adding aerobic exercise to conventional physiotherapy treatment for patients with chronic low back pain (LBP) in reducing pain and disability. DESIGN: Randomized controlled trial. SETTING: A physiotherapy outpatient setting in Hong Kong. PARTICIPANTS: Patients with chronic LBP (n = 46) were recruited and randomly assigned to either a control (n = 22) or an intervention (n = 24) group. INTERVENTIONS: An 8-week intervention; both groups received conventional physiotherapy with additional individually tailored aerobic exercise prescribed only to the intervention group. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Visual analog pain scale, Aberdeen Low Back Pain Disability Scale, and physical fitness measurements were taken at baseline, 8 weeks, and 12 months from the commencement of the intervention. Multivariate analysis of variance was performed to examine between-group differences. RESULTS: Both groups demonstrated a significant reduction in pain (p < 0.001) and an improvement in disability (p < 0.001) at 8 weeks and 12 months; however, no differences were observed between groups. There was no significant difference in LBP relapse at 12 months between the 2 groups (Chi2 = 2.30, p = 0.13). CONCLUSIONS: The addition of aerobic training to conventional physiotherapy treatment did not enhance either short- or long-term improvement of pain and disability in patients with chronic LBP.

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