Hip Flexors Shortening among Patients with Low Back Pain

Abstract

Purpose: Determine the hip flexors shortening in individuals with low back pain. Methodology: It was descriptive cross-sectional study. A total of 255 participants were included according to the selection criteria. Non-probability sampling technique was used to select participants. Inclusion criteria of the study were the patients of age between 18 to 65 years having low back pain from a period of 3 months or more. Exclusion criteria were the individuals with history of spinal trauma, joint dysfunction in past 3 months, any congenital deformity in hip or lumbar region, any history of fracture in related joints in previous 6 months and history of abdominal, hip or lumbar surgery in previous 3 months. Study settings include OPD of DHQ hospital, Gujranwala and Physical therapy department of Gondal hospital, Gujranwala. Study was completed within 4 month. Thomas test was used to assess hip flexors shortening. A structured questionnaire was used to collect participants’ relevant data. Data was analysed by SPSS version 20. Findings: Mean age of the patients was 40.10±12.31 and mean body mass index was 27.44±6.10. Out of 255 patients, 35.7% were male and 64.3% were females. 64.3% participants were housewife, 20.8% were labour and 14.9% were worker. Thomas test was found to be positive in 63.5% patients of low back pain and negative in 36.5% patients. Chi square shows that (p>0.05) there was no significant association between participants’ gender and the results of Thomas test. But a statistically significant association was found between gender and occupation (p<0.05). Recommendations: In conclusion, hip flexor shortening was prevalent in patients of low back pain. The prevalence of hip flexor muscles shortening was found to be 63.5%. There was no statistical significant association of participants’ gender with hip flexor shortening. However, statistical significant association was found between gender and occupation of the participant with low back pain. The relationship of hip flexor shortening with various conditions should be evaluated in future research with a bigger sample size, diverse populations, and different age groups. It is suggested that future research look at the prevalence of hip flexor shortening in those without LBP. To stop people's muscles from shortening in general, several awareness programmes for posture advice and muscle stretching practices should be set up.