Журнал физиотерапии и физической реабилитации

Background: Mechanical low back pain is one of the most common medical problems and causes a significant amount of disability and incapacity in different countries.
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of shock wave therapy with mechanical traction on mechanical low back pain.
Subjects: Sixty mechanical low back pain patients aged from 20-35years of both sexes, randomly divided into three groups, selected from Sohag University Neurosurgery Hospital.
Methods: group A (Study Group): twenty patients received shock wave therapy in addition to traditional physical therapy. Group B (Study Group): twenty patients received shock wave therapy and mechanical traction in addition to traditional physical therapy.Group C (Control Group): twenty patients received Traditional physical therapy. The treatment was applied for four weeks, three sessions per week. Pain was measured by McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ), disability was measured by Oswestry Low Back Pain Disability Questionnaire and ROM was measured by goniometer before and after the treatment. 
Results: There was a statistically significant decrease in pain, disability in group (B) than other groups with p-value equal (P=0.0001*, 0.0001* and P=0.0001*) respectively. There was a statistically significant increase in flexion and extension ROMs in group (B) than other groups with p-value equal (P=0.0001*, 0.0001* and P=0.0001*) respectively.
Conclusion: shock wave therapy with mechanical traction in addition to traditional physical therapy can be used as an effective treatment in patients with mechanical low back pain.