Comparison of the effects of joint mobilization, gym ball exercises, and breathing exercises on breathing pattern disorders and joint position sense in persons with chronic low back pain

Objective: To compare the effects of joint mobilization, gym ball exercises, and breathing exercises on breathing pattern disorders and joint position sense in persons with chronic lower back pain. Design: Three-group pretest-posttest design. Methods: Thirty-six individuals with chronic low back pain who were undergoing a postural correction and vertebral movement at a rehabilitation center participated in this study. The subjects were randomly divided into the joint mobilization group (n=12), gym ball exercises group (n=12), and the breathing exercises group (n=12). The exercises were applied for 40 minutes a day, twice a week for a total of 12 weeks. Measurement tools included the end-tidal CO2 (ETCO2), respiration rate (RR), breath hold time, Nijmegen Questionnaire (NQ), excursion, and joint position error (JPE). Results: The groups showed significant differences in the ETCO2, RR, NQ, Excursion and JPE test before and after the intervention (p<0.05). The differences between the groups were significant in the group that received the gym ball and breathing exercises in ETCO2 and RR (p<0.05). The differences between the groups were most significant in the group that received breathing exercises in NQ and excursion (p<0.05). The differences between the groups were significant in the group that received the gym ball and breathing exercises in JPE Lt. and Rt. (p<0.05). Conclusions: All three interventions had a significant impact on the biomechanical changes, respiratory variables, and joint position sense in participants with chronic lower back pain. Breathing exercises were found to be particularly effective in improving respiratory parameters.