Aerobic fitness in women with chronic discogenic nonradicular low back pain.

Overview

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine if aerobic fitness varies between women with and without chronic discogenic non-radicular low back pain. DESIGN: Prospective cross-sectional descriptive study. RESULTS: : Analysis of variance revealed that maximal oxygen consumption was lower (P = 0.05) in women with low back pain compared with the control group. In addition, there was a significant reduction (P = 0.05) in reported exercise training duration and frequency but no change in exercise intensity (P = 0.1) in the study group after the onset of low back pain. The low back pain group had minimal disability (19%) based on the Oswestry Disability Questionnaire. CONCLUSIONS: Women with chronic discogenic non-radicular low back pain have lower maximal oxygen consumption than age-matched controls. However, this study group continued to exercise safely at the same exercise training intensity as before their low back pain and had minimal disability and above-average aerobic fitness.