[Comparing the effects of drug therapy, physical therapy, and exercise on pain, disability, and depression in patients with chronic low back pain].
OBJECTIVE
This research was conducted to compare the effects of drug therapy, physical therapy, and exercise on pain, disability, and depression in patients with chronic low back pain.


METHODS
The research design of this study was a nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest design. The subjects of this study were 28 patients for the drug therapy & physical therapy, 24 patients for the drug therapy & exercise, and 22 patients for the physical therapy & exercise. Data was collected by MVAS, Oswestry disability questionnaires, and questionnaires of depression. It was analyzed by paired t-test for effectiveness, ANOVA, and Scheffe for comparison of the effects of the 3 experimental treatments, using SPSS/WIN 12.0.


RESULTS
There were no effects of drug therapy & physical therapy on pain, disability, and depression. However, there were effects of drug therapy & exercise and the physical therapy & exercise on pain, disability, and depression. The effects of physical therapy & exercise on pain, disability, and depression were the greatest, but there was no statistically significant differences between the drug therapy & exercise and the physical therapy & exercise.


CONCLUSIONS
Exercise is regarded as a more effective and easily accessible nursing intervention to apply alone than drug therapy or physical therapy simultaneously in reducing pain, disability and depression.
Ko
Ja Kyung
JK
Department of Nursing, Koje College, 654-1 Jangsungpo-dong, Kojeshi Kyongnam 656-701, Korea. jkko@koje.ac.kr
D000328:Adult; D003863:Depression; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005081:Exercise Therapy; D049690:History, Ancient; D006801:Humans; D017116:Low Back Pain / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000451:nursing / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D016294:Models, Nursing; D010146:Pain; D026741:Physical Therapy Modalities; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires