Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 13, 2025
Biomechanical Changes Related to Low Back Pain: An Innovative Tool for Movement Pattern Assessment and Treatment Evaluation in Rehabilitation
Published on: December 13, 2024
Mézières Method as a practice of embodiment in patients with low back pain: a mixed study
Margareth Lorena Alfonso-Mora1,2, Miriam Guerra-Balic2, Ricardo Sánchez-Martín2
1Universidad de La Sabana, Chía, Colombia.
Introduction:
The objectives of this study were to determine the effects of the Mézières Method (MM) on pain and disability related to low back pain (LBP), compared to a program of heat, massage and exercise, and to understand the meaning of the bodily experience with the MM.
Patients And Methods:
Mixed methods convergent parallel design, combining an equivalent randomized clinical trial with a qualitative phenomenological approach. Sixty-one participants aged 18-65 years with chronic non-specific LBP lasting more than 3 months. Patients were randomized into two groups: the MM group (n = 29) and the comparison group (CG) who received heat, massage plus flexibility and strengthening exercises (n = 31). MM and CG participants underwent 10 one-hour physical therapy sessions over a 5-week period and were evaluated three times: pre-intervention, post-intervention and follow-up at 6 weeks after the end of treatment.
Results:
Both groups reported positive effects on LBP . MM group showed superior effects in pain relief in the short term (Cohen's D 0.80; p = 0.004). Participants interpreted the interaction with the MM as a teaching-learning process that allowed body awareness.
Conclusion:
Both treatment were similarly beneficial but MM had superior effects on pain in the short term. MM is perceived by the participants as a teaching-learning process focused on body awareness that facilitate effective management of LBP.
