Aerobic capacity among chronic low-back-pain patients

The role of aerobic capacity (maximal oxygen uptake, VO2max) in connection with chronic low-back pain was assessed in a study mainly designed to evaluate the outcome of inpatient and outpatient treatment of low-back pain. A total of 245 subjects (ages 35-54 years, 71% men)--81 inpatients, 88 outpatients, and 76 controls--who had chronic low-back pain but who were still working, performed maximal graded bicycle ergometer tests four times during the follow-up of 30 months. In every group the estimated VO2max was on the level of the reference values of healthy persons. There were no significant changes in the VO2max in any of the intervention groups during the follow-up period. The correlation analyses showed no connection between aerobic capacity and pain or disability caused by chronic low-back pain. Among several components of physical fitness, aerobic capacity had no predictive value in the course of low-back pain.