Treatment of Low Back Pain in Patients With End-stage Renal Disease on Hemodialysis

The purpose of this study is to determine whether a physiotherapeutic intervention is effective in the treatment of low back pain in hemodialysis patients

Low back pain is a significant morbidity in chronic hemodialysis patients affecting about 1/3 of them. Among the physiotherapeutic interventions, the McKenzie Method (Spine 1983;8:141-4), has shown to be an effective approach to manage patients with low back pain. More specifically, it consists on standardized repetitive flexion and extension exercises of the lumbar spine. Thus far, there has been no randomized intervention testing the effectiveness of physiotherapeutic interventions in chronic renal failure patients on hemodialysis. In this study we selected four of their main proposed exercises (flexion in standing, extension in standing, flexion in lying, and extension in lying position) to apply three times a week for eight weeks.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Diagnosis of chronic low back pain
• Chronic renal failure
• Hemodialysis therapy for more than 3 months

Exclusion Criteria:

• Fractures of the spine
• Psychiatric diseases
• Alcohol of other drugs use
• Planned living donor transplantation
• Clinically unstable patients
• Chronic neurologic diseases