Treadmill ambulation with partial body weight support for the treatment of low back and leg pain

A single-subject experimental design using an A-B-A treatment protocol.

To determine whether walking on a treadmill with partial body weight support (PBWS) would be an effective adjunct treatment method to standard care for decreasing pain and increasing function in patients suffering from low back and leg pain.

Mechanical low back pain (LBP) is commonly aggravated by activities that increase axial loading in the spine, such as sitting, standing, and walking. Patients with mechanical LBP usually describe relief with positions that unload the spine. One traction technique now being used in clinics to unload the spine is the PBWS system. The use of endurance exercise has also been found to be a consistent predictor of better outcomes in patients with LBP. Thus treatment that combines spinal unloading using PBWS and endurance exercise may be an effective intervention for patients with low back and leg pain.

Eleven subjects participated in this study using an A-B-A design. Phase A was defined as the baseline condition and phase B was intervention with PBWS provided by a mechanical unloading system. The Roland-Morris Questionnaire (RMQ) and Visual Analog Scale (VAS) were utilized to collect data on functional status and perceived pain, respectively. Visual Analysis and 2 standard deviation band method (2SDBM) were used to analyze the data.

Pain scores between baseline and PBWS treatment phases were significantly improved for 3 out of the 6 subjects who completed the study. RMQ baseline and treatment scores revealed that 5 out of 6 subjects had significant functional improvements in the PBWS treatment phase.

The results suggest that ambulation with PBWS combined with the standard level of care for this population holds sufficient promise for pain relief and functional improvement to justify testing its efficacy in larger groups of subjects with these complaints.