Influence of the Back School on quality of life, functional capacity, intensity of pain and flexibility of administrative workers

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to analyze the effects of the "Back School" in the quality of life, functional capacity, pain intensity and flexibility for workers with nonspecific low back pain. Thirty-three administrative sector workers participated. The program was conducted in seven meetings with four groups (seven to eight subjects) once a week, lasting one hour each. Before and after the intervention, the subjects answered a questionnaire on quality of life Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36), the incapacity functional questionnaire, Roland Morris, performed the sit and reach test with the Wells' bank, and noted the intensity pain in visual analog scale. The statistical test of Shapiro-Wilk test was used to analyze the normality of data distribution. The data were analyzed by Wilcoxon and Student's t-test with significance level of 5% (p<0.05). In the improvement of quality of life in seven domains of the SF-36 (p<0.005), functional incapacity (p<0.005), pain intensity (p<0.005) and flexibility (p<0.005). The rate of adherence was 58.93%. The "Back School" program offered significantly improved the quality of life, functional capacity, flexibility and intensity of pain in adult administrative workers.