FPOS (Czechia)

Special rehabilitation treatment and exercises by INFINITY method® (IM) use active movement and passive therapy. The three-dimensional rehabilitation therapy and movements stabilize and centralize the posture and also lumbar region. The IM is used as a treatment of patients with low back pain (LBP) and also preventive exercise program. PURPOSE: To test efficacy of the rehabilitation method IM in patients with LBP. METHODS: This was a quasi-experimental and non-randomized study with repeated measures design in a rehabilitation clinic. The participants with LBP (n = 15, age 66.2 ± 18.8 yr) volunteered in the study. All patients received a 60-minute IM therapy per day for twenty days for four weeks. We measured the area of center of force (COF) (cm2), anterior-posterior (A-P) and medial-lateral (M-L) sway components of COF (cm) before and after the treatment. Patients were standing for 30 seconds with eyes closed to measure postural control on a pressure mat system MatScan, before and after the rehabilitation treatment. Another dependent variable, the visual analog scale (VAS) of low back subjective pain scores (1 - pain free; 10 - unimaginable, unspeakable), was measured before and after the treatment. Data were analyzed using a Paired t-test and Wilcoxon signed-ranks test. P < .05. RESULTS: The mean COF before treatment (M = 4.89, SD = 0.91) was significantly greater than the mean after treatment (M = 2.81, SD = 1.77), t (14) = 2.14, p < .05. The sway was reduced in both directions after treatment. M-L instability had larger effects on sway compared to A-P instability. The mean A-P before and after (M = 2.95, SD = 1.08) and (M = 2.81, SD = 1.21) showed only small, non-significant difference, t (14) = 0.42, p > .05; however, the mean M-L score before and after treatment (M = 3.69, SD = 1.37) and (M = 2.71, SD = 1.24) revealed significant difference, t (14) = 2.63, p < .05. VAS pain scores for pre- and post-treatment indicated significant difference (Mdn = 5.00) and (Mdn = 4.00), z = -3.32, p < .01. CONCLUSIONS: The study revealed a significant decrease in pain and the area of COF, A-P and L-R sway components of COF. Out of all these parameters study shows that over 70% of patients with LBP improved at least in three dependent variables. The results of this study present the efficacy of IM in treatment of patients with LBP.