Efficacy of two types of physical exercises on nursing workers with low back pain and its association with physical posture at work

Introduction
A great number of ailments and sick leaves among nursing professionals are due to osteomuscular disorders, among them, low back pain. Physical posture at work (static or dynamic) is believed to influence in the development of the disease and physical exercise techniques, which affect specific muscular groups, can minimize or even eliminate pain, offering significant improvement to the worker.

Methods
A prospective study was performed with thirty volunteers referred to the physiotherapy service of the Clinical Hospital Medicine School of Ribeirão Preto. Volunteers had been diagnosed with low back pain between September 2009 and June 2010. Nineteen volunteers participated in the study and were divided into two groups: eleven participants were the intervention group (IG) with exercises based on the Pilates method, the other eight participants were the control group (CG), which had conventional physical exercises. Volunteers were assessed before and after the intervention period with the Oswetry Low Back Pain Scale. Data on individual, socio-demographic and professional aspects were collected. For statistical analysis SPSS and SAS were used.

Results
In both groups (IG and CG) all workers who adopted dynamic postures in their labour routine had a pronounced improvement from low back pain when compared to those who kept static posture. Thus, labour postures adopted day by day could contribute to the improvement of patients suffering from low back pain after the intervention, regardless of the physical exercise technique used.

Discussion
Results suggest physical posture adopted routinely at work can influence in the development of low back pain, but all patients can benefit from the practice of regular exercises.