title: Short- and long-term effects of a six-week clinical Pilates program in addition to physical therapy on postmenopausal women with chronic low back pain: a randomized controlled trial.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the short- and long-term effectiveness of the application of Clinical Pilates in addition to physical therapy versus a physical therapy treatment alone in a population of postmenopausal women with chronic low back pain (CLBP).
  
  
  METHODS
  A single-blind randomized controlled trial with repeated measures and a follow-up period. One hundred and one patients were randomly allocated to a Pilates + physical therapy (PPT) group or to a physical therapy (PT) only group for six weeks. Pain and disability were measured by visual analog scale (VAS) and the Oswestry disability index respectively preintervention, after 6 weeks of treatment and after 1-year follow-up.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were significant differences between groups in pain and disability after 6 weeks of treatment, with better results in the PPT group with an effect size of d = 3.14 and d = 2.33 for pain and disability. After 1-year follow-up, only PPT group showed better results compared with baseline with an effect size of d = 2.49 and d = 4.98 for pain and disability.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results suggest that using Clinical Pilates in addition to physical therapy provides improved results on pain management and functional status for postmenopausal woman with CLBP and that its benefits still linger after one year.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Chronic Low Back Pain could benefit from the Pilates practice in postmenopausal women. Improvement in pain and disability derived from CLBP seem to be maintained over time due to Pilates practice. Pilates constitutes a safe tool to be applied in older population with CLBP due to its ability to be adapted to every performance and physical level.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Health Sciences , Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Jaén , Jaén , Spain .
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cruz-Díaz
authors.affiliation: a Department of Health Sciences , Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Jaén , Jaén , Spain .|b Departmento de Anatomía Y Embriología, Institute of Biopathology and Regenerative Medicine (IBIMER) , Facultad De Medicina, University of Granada , Granada , Spain , and.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Martínez-Amat
authors.affiliation: a Department of Health Sciences , Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Jaén , Jaén , Spain .
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Osuna-Pérez
authors.affiliation: c Department of Psychology , University of Jaén , Jaén , Spain.
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: De la Torre-Cruz
authors.affiliation: a Department of Health Sciences , Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Jaén , Jaén , Spain .|b Departmento de Anatomía Y Embriología, Institute of Biopathology and Regenerative Medicine (IBIMER) , Facultad De Medicina, University of Granada , Granada , Spain , and.
authors.forename: Fidel
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Hita-Contreras
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D059350:Chronic Pain; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D026241:Exercise Movement Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D005081:Exercise Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017116:Low Back Pain / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy; D059408:Pain Management / Q000379:methods; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000379:methods; D017698:Postmenopause / Q000502:physiology*; D013995:Time; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: Low back pain; Pilates; physical therapy; postmenopausal