BACKGROUND: The Pilates method has been widely used to treat chronic low back pain. Pilates exercises can be performed in two ways: by using specific equipment or without it (also known as mat Pilates), however there are no studies that compared the effectiveness of mat Pilates to equipment-based Pilates. OBJECTIVE: To compare the effectiveness of mat Pilates to equipment-based Pilates in patients with chronic non-specific low back pain. DESIGN: Two-arm randomized controlled trial with a blinded assessor. SETTING: Private physical therapy clinic in Brazil. PATIENTS: Eighty-six patients with chronic non-specific low back pain. INTERVENTION: The patients were randomly allocated into two groups: mat Pilates group (n = 43) and equipment-based group (n = 43). The patients of both groups attended 12 Pilates sessions over a period of 6 weeks. MEASUREMENTS: The primary outcomes were pain intensity and disability. The secondary outcomes were global perceived effect, patient's specific disability, and kinesiophobia. A blinded assessor evaluated the outcomes at baseline and 6 weeks and 6 months after randomization. RESULTS: After 6 months, there was a statistically significant difference for disability (mean difference 3.0 points, 95% CI 0.6 to 5.4), specific disability (mean difference -1.1 points, 95% CI -2.0 to -0.1) and kinesiophobia (mean difference 4.9 points, 95% CI 1.6 to 8.2) in favor of equipment-based Pilates. No differences were found for the remaining outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Equipment-based Pilates was superior to mat Pilates in the 6 months follow-up for the outcomes disability and kinesiophobia. These benefits were not observed for pain intensity and global perceived effect in patients with chronic non-specific low back pain.

Full text (sometimes free) may be available at these link(s):      help

• DOI
• PubMed
• PDF locator
• publisher