The effect of prone position and interferential therapy on lumbosacral radiculopathy

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to evaluate the effect of (i) prone position and (ii) interferential therapy (IFT) combined with prone position on H-reflex and pain intensity and distribution in patients with lumbosacral radiculopathy (LSR). Two groups of subject participated in this study: a patient group of 28 males with confirmed unilateral LSR and a healthy group of 28 males. The soleus H-reflex, pain intensity and pain distribution were recorded in four different conditions: immediately after 3 min of resting in prone position, immediately after 20 min of rest in prone position, immediately after 10 min of IFT (H-reflex was recorded during ongoing IFT) and immediately after 20 min of IFT. The results showed that both prone position and IFT had no statistically significant effect on the soleus H-reflex of healthy and patient groups throughout the four different conditions. In contrary, they caused significant improvement in pain intensity and distribution. The findings of this study indicated that neither prone position nor IFT had a decompression effect on the H-reflex of the compromised nerve root. The significant improvement in pain intensity and distribution is most probably placebo more than substantial physiological or anatomical changes involved in the compromised nerve root.

• H-reflex
• interferential therapy
• lumbosacral radiculopathy
• prone position