Open AccessEFFECTIVENESS OF NEURAL MOBILIZATION AND STRETCHING EXERCISE FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF SCIATICA
Author(s) -
Sidra Zahid,
Ghazala Noor Nizami
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
pakistan journal of rehabilitation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2311-3863
pISSN - 2309-7833
DOI - 10.36283/pjr.zu.3.2/003
Subject(s) - sciatica , medicine , visual analogue scale , physical therapy , randomized controlled trial , mobilization , sciatic nerve , physical medicine and rehabilitation , surgery , anesthesia , archaeology , history
OBJECTIVETo find out the effectiveness of neural mobilization and stretching exercise forthe management of sciaticaBACKGROUNDSciatica is described as pain, radiating to the leg below the knee joint andcaused by irritation of the sciatic nerve or nerve trunk. There are manytreatment options for the management of sciatica, including stretchingexercise and neural mobilization.MATERIAL AND METHODSThis study was a Randomized Controlled Trial. 94 patients from physical therapyOPD of tertiary care hospitals, were participated in this study. Hence, 47patients were randomly allocated into each group A and B. Before and afterthe nine treatment sessions, both groups were assessed with VAS, SLR ROMand Quebec back pain disability scale. In group A, neural mobilization withconventional therapy (heat and TENS) was applied, while stretching exercisewith same conventional therapy was applied to group B.RESULTSIt was observed that both treatments were helpful in reducing the symptoms.The analysis showed significant improvement (p-value <0.05) in the SLR to60.851o±6.86oand Quebec score to 23.617±3.125, after the stretchingexercise. Hence, both treatments were equally effective in reducing pain(p-value >0.05).CONCLUSIONStretching exercise is more effective in the improvement of SLR and disability.Furthermore, both techniques are helpful in the management of pain.KEY WORDSSciatica, Stretching, Neural Mobilization, Straight Leg Raising, Visual Analogue Scale, TENS.