• Karin Pieber, Malvina Herceg, Michael Quittan, Robert Csapo, Rudolf Müller, and Guenther F Wiesinger.
• Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria, karin.pieber@meduniwien.ac.at.
• Eur Spine J. 2014 Apr 1; 23 (4): 779-85.

PurposeThis longitudinal study investigated long-term effects of a multidisciplinary rehabilitation program consisting of resistance and sensorimotor training, patient education, and stress management over 6 months in patients with chronic low back pain.MethodsNinety-six patients with chronic recurrent low back pain performed a multidisciplinary rehabilitation program. We assessed pain-free lumbar spine range of motion (ROM), strength of the lumbar extensor muscles, and pain by visual analog scale (VAS). Furthermore, the Roland-Morris (RM) questionnaire and SF-36 were used. The examinations were performed before and after rehabilitation, and a long-term follow-up was performed after 18 months.ResultsAll outcome measurements (ROM, VAS, RM, muscle strength, and SF-36 scores) improved significantly from baseline to the post-rehabilitation evaluation. These improvements were found to persist until a follow-up evaluation 18 months after cessation of the intervention.ConclusionsOur findings confirm the results of former studies evaluating the short-term effects of multidisciplinary rehabilitation programs. In addition, our data demonstrate that well-balanced outpatient rehabilitation programs may induce persistent improvements in muscle strength, pain, function and quality of life in patients with chronic low back pain.

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