Evaluation of pulmonary function in patients of non-specific low back pain

INTRODUCTION: Diaphragm is the primary inspiratory muscle and it plays an essential role in controlling the spine during postural control. In nonspecific low back pain, the diaphragm muscle becomes weak, due to which the pulmonary functions may decrease. To the best of our knowledge there is a scarcity of literature in regard to the effect of low back pain on pulmonary parameters. Thus, the study is aimed to evaluate the pulmonary function in patients with non-specific low back pain. METHODS: One hundred and thirteen patients with non-specific low back pain and 113 BMI matched normal individuals as a comparison group aged 18-40 years of male and female genders were recruited by purposive sampling method for this prospective cross-sectional study. The non-specific back pain group included participants diagnosed with non-specific low back pain with pain intensity > 3 on VAS scale and duration > 3 months. After initial screening and assessment, anthropometric characteristics were recorded. Then, the pulmonary function test (FEV1, FVC, FEV1/FVC, PEFR, SVC, MVV) were recorded in both groups. RESULT: Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used for normality assessment and data was found to be not normally distributed. Non parametric data was represented as median and IQR (Inter Quartile Range). Between groups data analysis was performed by using Mann-Whitney U test and the effect size was computed for the study variables. P < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. There was a significant difference in pulmonary function values of FEV1, FEV1/FVC, PEFR, SVC, MVV. There was no significant difference in age and BMI of the participants of both groups. CONCLUSION: There exist significant differences in pulmonary function in patients with non-specific low back pain.