EFFECTIVENESS OF MUSCLE ENERGY TECHNIQUES (METS) COMPARED TO PASSIVE STRETCHING IN IMPROVING HAMSTRING FLEXIBILITY IN PATIENTS OF NONSPECIFIC CHRONIC LOW BACK PAIN

Background: Hamstring tightness or decreased flexibility is a predisposing cause for the hamstring strain, lumbar spine disorders, and low back pain.. Objective: To determine whether muscle energy technique or static-passive stretch is the better treatment for increasing hamstring flexibility in patients suffering from nonspecific chronic low back pain. Materials and methods: It were a quasi-experimental study which completed in 4 months from November 2016 to February 2017. A total of 60 subjects of chronic nonspecific low back pain who fulfilled inclusion criteria were selected from different hospital settings of Lahore through convenient sampling and allocated into Group A and Group B. After pre-testing through active knee extension test, subjects in Group A were given muscle energy technique along with conventional physiotherapy and subjects in Group B were given static passive stretching along with conventional physiotherapy treatment. Post-test measurements were taken after 4 weeks. The treatment of five sessions a week, for a total of four weeks, was given to both groups. Improvement in hamstring flexibility was measured through active knee extension test. Results: SPSS version 20 was used for analysis. Within groups analysis showed that mean popliteal angle of Group A in pretest measurements was 146.03±12.92 and in posttest measurements was 158.70±9.87 (p<0.001*) and mean popliteal angle of measurements in Group B for pretest readings was 147.30±10.75 and in posttest reading, was 155.67±11.55(p