An eight-week thoracic stabilization exercise program improves postural back pain and spine alignment of university students with back pain

Objectives: The study aimed to investigate effects of thoracic stabilization exercises on postural back pain, spinal alignment and inclination in university students who had postural back pain. Methods: University students who had minor to moderate postural back pain (18-25 years) were randomly allocated into Exercise (n = 28) and Control (n = 25) Groups. The programs were carried out 8 weeks and 3 days/week. The postural back pain intensity was assessed by Visual Analogue Scale. Spinal alignment and spinal inclination were evaluated with the Spinal Mouse® (Idiag, Fehraltorf, Switzerland). Assessments were applied before (BP) and after program (AP). Wilcoxon and Mann Whitney U tests were utilized. Results: The significant differences were observed for postural back pain (BP: 1.33 (1.16); AP: 0.33 (1.16)), thoracic curvature (BP: 44.50 (11.75); AP: 36.50 (13.25)), lumbar curvature (BP: -29.00 (10.00); AP: -7.00 (19.50)) and spinal inclination (BP: 5.00 (5.25); AP: 0.00 (4.00)) in Exercise Group between BP and AP (p0.05). The intergroup comparison showed that postural back pain, thoracic curvature, lumbar curvature and spinal inclination decreased in Exercise Group in comparison to Control Group (p