Owner & Director Saybrook University / Alliant Physical Therapy / dba SOBUS Media Gig Harbor, Washington, United States
Research Objectives: To compare efficacy, An RCT study compared a novel Feldenkrais Movement / Augmented Reality approach to the more traditional standard of outpatient PT practice, i.e. Motor Control Exercises / Core Stabilization for patients with Chronic Non-Specific Low Back Pain (CNSLBP).
Design: A Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) compared an 8-week Augmented Mixed Reality / Feldenkrais® Movement (AXR/FM) intervention against standard & conventional protocols for Core Stabilization Training / Motor Control (CS/MC). Known confounding biopsychosocial variables were controlled via stratified-random assignment on the Fear-Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire (FABQ).
Setting: Outpatient physical therapy, private practice setting.
Participants: N=30 participants with Chronic LBP were assigned to either the experimental group (AXR /FM @ N=15) or the control group (CS/MC @ N=15).
Interventions: The Feldenkrais Method® (FM) & Augmented-Mixed Reality (AXR) seek to improve sensory-motor learning by augmenting the brain's sense of movement. The (AXR/FM) treatment component consisted of full-scale anatomical models, kinematic avatars, skeletal density imagery, and haptic self-touch as cuing techniques. The control group (CS/MC) followed the Queensland Protocol for Core Stabilization / Motor Control training and progression.
Main Outcome Measures: Treatment Outcome measures included the Visual Analog Scale for pain (VAS-PAIN), the Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire (RMDQ), the Patient-Specific Functional Scale (PSFS), and Timed Position Endurance Testing – including Flexion / Extension Ratios at baseline, 2-weeks, 4-weeks and 8-weeks. Statistical Analysis was conducted using Wilcoxon Rank Sum and paired, two-tailed t-test.
Results: The AXR/FM group demonstrated greater improvement in all treatment outcome measures as compared to the matched CS/MC control group. Only the PSFS demonstrated statistical significance for greatest improvement at p < 0.05 upon more stringent non-parametric testing.
Conclusions: This is the first RCT study to demonstrate that a Feldenkrais Method® -based approach combined with AXR can be more efficacious for the treatment of CNSLBP than the current and accepted PT treatment standard of Core Stabilization / Motor Control Exercises. Larger sample sizes are needed.
Author(s) Disclosures: There are no conflicts of interest.
Learning Objectives:
compare & contrast normal clinical presentation & neuroplastic changes associated with sensory-motor dysfunction and the corresponding distortion of somatotopic cortical representation in chronic low back pain.
know how to deploy life-sized and/or life scaled bones as ‘augmented anatomical constructs’ for re-constructing an alternative notion for a more positionally accurate, adaptively capable, robust body schema.
discover how multi-modal haptic self-touch, directed attention, and connected action integrates toward the construction of reproducible, tangible, and effective, evidence-based interoceptive awareness for improving functioning in chronic pain.
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