Effects of Exercise and Back Counselling for Nurses

Comparative Effects of Exercise and Back Counselling on Improving Low Back Pain for Nurses

Low back pain (LBP) is most common occupational health problem among nurses. Therefore, how to prevent and reduce low back pain have been the important issue for nurses. A Quasi-Experimental design is used in this study to compare the effectiveness of 12-week exercise and counselling program to reduce low back pain in nursing personnel compared with counselling alone.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Low Back Pain
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Exercise; Behavioral: Back counselling

Detailed Description

A Quasi-Experimental design is used in this study. Purposive sampling is used to recruit participants from medical center in Central Taiwan. Participants will be randomly assigned to two groups: (1) exercise and back counselling, and (2) back counselling only. The results of this study will provide a guideline for nurses to prevent and to improve low back pain.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 4
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Taiwan
  • Taichung, Taiwan, 406040
    • China Medical University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 20 years to 65 years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Has worked at current job for at least 12 months;
2. Intensity of low back pain on Visual Analogue Scale (scale 0-10) at least two during the past 3 months.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Serious former back injury (fracture, surgery, disc protrusion);
2. Pregnant;
3. Other serious disease or symptoms that limit participation exercise defined by a physician.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Exercise and back counselling group	Behavioral: Exercise; Twelves-week exercise training sessions include a variety of strength, flexibility, and coordination exercises. Each exercise session lasts for one hour. Participants are expected to attend exercise session once a week and are encouraged to continue exercising at home.; Behavioral: Back counselling; Procedure of back counselling includes one session back counselling, lasting one hour. The topics of back counselling session are as follows: (1) Anatomy of lumbar; (2) Factors causing low back pain; (3) Problems of physical inactivity for the lumbar; (4) Risk of poor postures for developing persistent/chronic low back pain; (5) Maintaining right posture of the lumbar; (6) Avoiding harmful loading of the back during work and leisure time.
Active Comparator: Back counselling group	Behavioral: Back counselling; Procedure of back counselling includes one session back counselling, lasting one hour. The topics of back counselling session are as follows: (1) Anatomy of lumbar; (2) Factors causing low back pain; (3) Problems of physical inactivity for the lumbar; (4) Risk of poor postures for developing persistent/chronic low back pain; (5) Maintaining right posture of the lumbar; (6) Avoiding harmful loading of the back during work and leisure time.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change from Baseline in Pain on Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) at week 6, week 12, month 3, and month 6	Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) is used in this study to assess the intensity of low back pain with numeric rating scale 0-100 mm during the past month.	Baseline, week 6, week 12, month 3, month 6.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change from Baseline Musculoskeletal Symptoms in the Low Back Area at week 6, week 12, month 3 and month 6	Version of the low back questionnaire in Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ) is used in this study to assess the musculoskeletal symptoms in the low back area.	Baseline, week 6, week 12, month 3, month 6.
Change from Baseline Functional Status at week 6, week 12, month 3 and month 6	Chinese version of Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) is used in this study to assess the baseline functional status and its change over time for patients with back pain	Baseline, week 6, week 12, month 3, month 6

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: China Medical University Hospital
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Hsin-Hsin Shih, PhD, China Medical University, China

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): September 1, 2018
• Primary Completion (Actual): February 26, 2019
• Study Completion (Actual): July 31, 2019

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: August 30, 2018
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 4, 2018
• First Posted (Actual): September 7, 2018

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): August 11, 2021
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 9, 2021
• Last Verified: August 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Pain; Neurologic Manifestations; Back Pain; Low Back Pain
• Other Study ID Numbers: CMUH107-REC2-120

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No