Objective: The study purpose was to assess the impact of a sacroiliac support belt on relieving spine pain, regional thigh discomfort, and modifying erector spinae muscle activity patterns after a strenuous manual labor task.
Methods: Forty-eight college students completed a Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ), Numeric pain Rating Scale (NRS) for low back pain, and sEMG Flexion-Relaxation Phenomenon (FRP) test at baseline and again at post-test, with a 10-min manual-labor task phase in between. The study was composed of 3 compared groups: Control group #1 (16 participants without low back pain that did not wear a sacroiliac belt during the manual labor task), control group #2 (16 participants with low back pain that did not wear a sacroiliac belt during the manual labor task), and the experimental group (16 participants with low back pain that wore a sacroiliac belt during the manual labor task).
Results: Participants with low back pain that used the sacroiliac belt demonstrated significantly less lower back discomfort at the NMQ post-test (3.06 base to 1.94 post, p = 0.002), while those in both control groups demonstrated greater back discomfort. Additionally, use of the sacroiliac belt by low back pain participants demonstrated it had a protective ability on muscle activation patterns seen during the FRP post-test that warrant further study.
Conclusions: The addition of the sacroiliac belt improved participants’ lower back musculoskeletal discomfort level. Participants with LBP that wore the sacroiliac belt had more relaxed muscles afterwards during all phases of the FRP post-test.
Author keywords: Low Back Pain; Patient Outcome Assessment; Ergonomics; Self-Help Devices; Chiropractic
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