Comparing the effects of hydrotherapy, relaxation and McKenzie exercise on improvement of chronic low back pain in athletes

Aim and The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of hydrotherapy، relaxation and McKenzie exercise on improvement of chronic low back pain in athletes. Methods and Materials: The athletes with chronic low back pain formed our statistical research society. Forty subjects aged 32. 25±3. 6 years were selected purposefully from sport fields such as Track and Field، Badminton، Wrestling، Volleyball and Weightlifting at the professional level with more than six month history of low back pain. Subjects were randomly divided into four groups (hydrotherapy، relaxation، McKenzie program and control). The protocol consisted of training for 8 weeks، three days a week and each session was about an hour. We used McGill Pain Questionnaire، and Oswestry disability index for evaluation. The results of this study showed that the studied methods significantly (P<0. 05) decreased the pain in athletes، and improved their performance compared to the pre-test state and the control group but no significant difference between the groups and their effectiveness level was found. The treatment methods used in this study are useful to improve the back pain and to decrease weakness and disability with no significant difference between their effectiveness.