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Most of the biomechanical studies about low back pain on
muscle strength have emphasized on the strength of trunk
muscle. The attention paid to the changes of the muscle
strength of the lower extremities in chronic low back pain(
CLBP) patients was quite insufficient by comparison. Pain often
cause restrictions on patients'' daily activites. Therefore, the
present study will focus on the discussion of the relationship
with prolonged pain, patients''daily activities and the muscle
strength of the lower extremities. This cross-sectional
study was based on 65 CLBP patients with relative symptoms for
at least 3 months. Questionnaires concerned with their pain and
disabilities in daily life were designed and completed by the
subjects. At the same time, physical tests were given to these
subjects to examine the muscle strength of their lower
extremities, of which the results were compared with 130 normal
subjects with matching age and gender. The results of this study
have shown that the severity of pain was positively correlated
with living disability (r = 0.33, P<0.05).There was also
significant difference on the muscle strength of the lower
extremities between the CLBP and control group(P<0.05).
Furthermore, CLBP patients with leg symptoms had more living
disability than those without leg symptoms (P<0.05). The
results have also shown that the muscle strength of the lower
extremities in the group with CLBP decreased accordingly. This
may be due to pain or fear of pain which restricted the daily
activities and resulted in the disuse weakness. Therefore, these
CLBP patients had suffered from considerable pain and
inconvenience in their daily life. The weakened muscle strength
of the lower extremities can be improved by special therapy,
such as physical therapy, occupational therapy.
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