Effects of a postural gymnastics programme on individuals with lumbar disk hernia

The target of such study is to verify the effects of a Postural Gymnastics Programme in individuals with lumbar disk hernia of both sexes, aged from 29 to 70 yrs. old, during an exposition period of six months. This investigation is a Randomised Clinical Essay, applied during 6 months in individuals (n=30) of both sexes, average age of 49.73 years, with 36 lumbar herniated disks identified through Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and divided by exposure degree for this kind of conservative treatment. The individuals were divided into two groups: 14 in the Group of Study and the remaining 16 in the Group of Control. A Programme of Postural Gymnastics (GP) was elaborated and applied in the individuals, in order to measure the hip flexibility (before and after the programme) on Wells Data Bank, pain scores, the Oswestry Questionnaire of Lumbago (FAIRBANK, 1980) and the MRI´s. After the Programme, a sharp increase in the light pain level was perceived, being 20% (moderate in 6 individuals) and 80% (light in 24 individuals), with p-value of 0,0035 (p< 0,05). A substantial difference between Study and Control Groups was perceived (p-value = 0,0099 (p< 0,05)). A substantial spontaneous re-absorption occurred in 22.22% of the sample with lumbar disk hernia (p< 0,05), with a 13.03-month-average period gap between the first and second MRI examinations. Conservative treatment has been obtaining the best results in individuals with lumbar disk hernia, although no correlation has been found between pain level and MRI Examinations, because the re-absorption process of the nucleus pulposus is not totally cleared yet, deserving future investigations on the subject.