Effects of treadmill exercise with and without vertical traction on gait, pain, disability, trunk proprioception, and depression in patients with chronic mechanical low back pain: A randomized controlled trial.
Ji-Eun Baek, Sung-Jin Kim, Suk-Chan Hahm et al.
✦ AI-curated · Sources linked
In 30 seconds
This randomized controlled trial compared treadmill exercise with vertical traction and partial body weight support (VT+TE), treadmill exercise alone, and core stabilization in 45 patients with chronic mechanical low back pain. Participants completed 24 sessions over 8 weeks, alongside conventional physical therapy. Both treadmill groups improved more than controls in Timed Up and Go performance, self-selected gait speed, pain intensity, and depressive symptoms. Compared with treadmill exercise alone, VT+TE yielded greater improvements in Timed Up and Go performance, self-selected gait speed, disability, and trunk repositioning errors; fast gait speed improved more than in both comparison groups immediately after treatment.
Key findings
- Both treadmill groups improved Timed Up and Go performance, self-selected gait speed, pain intensity, and depressive symptoms more than the control group.
- VT+TE improved Timed Up and Go performance, self-selected gait speed, disability, and flexion and extension repositioning errors more than treadmill exercise alone.
- At post-intervention, fast gait speed improved more with VT+TE than with either treadmill exercise alone or core stabilization.
- Pain and depressive symptom improvements were maintained at 4-week follow-up in both treadmill groups.
Why it matters
The findings suggest that treadmill-based rehabilitation may improve several functional and symptom outcomes in chronic mechanical low back pain, with vertical traction and partial body weight support potentially adding benefits for gait, disability, and trunk repositioning accuracy. These outcomes are relevant to functional recovery, but the small trial does not establish how much benefit is attributable specifically to unloading or harness support.
What to keep in mind
The trial had a small sample, with 15 participants per group, and could not distinguish the effects of vertical unloading from those of harness support.