Effectiveness of McKenzie therapy on low back pain among school teachers in selected schools at Kanyakumari District

BACKGROUND: Lower back pain (LBP) is one of the most common work-related health problems in economically developed countries and the most prevailing musculoskeletal condition that causes disability in the developing nations. School teachers are susceptible to low back pain due to the nature of their daily work routine which is physically demanding and include common activities. The aim of the study is to assess the effectiveness of McKenzie therapy on low back pain among school teachers in selected schools at Kanya kumara District. OBJECTIVES: 1. To assess the level of low back pain among school teachers in both experimental and control group. 2. To evaluate the effectiveness of McKenzie therapy on level of low back pain among school teachers in experimental group. 3. To find out the association between the post test level of low back pain among school teachers with their selected demographic variables and clinical variables. MATEIRAL AND METHOD: The research design adopted for this study is quasi experimental pre- test and post- test control group design. The purposive sampling technique was used to select the samples. The conceptual frame selected for the study is Ernestine Widenbach’s clinical theory. The tool used for data collection procedure was Oswestry low back pain questionnaire. After the pre test assessment of low back pain, the school teachers those who had moderate and severe level of low back pain were given Mckenzie therapy for 20 minutes twice a day for 5 days. RESULT: The study revealed that in pre test most of school teachers, 53.3% in the experimental had severe low back back pain and 46.7% had moderate low back pain and in control group 46.7% had severe low back pain and other 53.3 % had moderate low back pain. After Mckenzie therapy it was decreased that 56.7% had moderate low back pain and 43.3 %had mild low back pain in experimental group and 46.7% had severe low back pain 53.3% had moderate low back pain control group. There was a significant reduction in mean post test low back pain (MD = 10.6) t = 15.04 p < 0.001) of the experimental group. The mean post test score in the experimental group was 18.5 lesser than the control group 27.7 (M D= 8.26, t = 3.26, P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The Mckenzie therapy has found to be cost effective, non invasive, non pharmacological management used to reduce Mckenzie therapy on low back pain among school teachers