Context: Nowadays chronic low back pain (CLBP) is one of the most debilitating injuries in
sport and in everyday life which has been shown to lead to articular and myofascial stiffness
and loss of function. Manual therapy and especially joint mobilisation have been shown to
have a positive effect on articular, neural and myofascial structures. Nevertheless, there is
not enough research regarding the effect of the grade IV lumbar rotation mobilisations on
the lumbar spine.
Aims: The aims of this study were to assess whether two grade IV lumbar rotation
mobilisations, generic and L4-5 specific, had an effect on lumbar and hamstring flexibility
during a Modified-Schober test (MST) and a passive straight leg raise (PSLR), respectively,
and whether one technique was more effective.
Participants: Fourteen Sports Therapy students (six men and eight women,
mean±SD: age= 20.71±2.09 years, body mass= 75.54±14.06 kg, height= 171.62±6.29 cm)
volunteered to participate in this study. The inclusion criteria for this study was no acute or
chronic low back pain in the last six months, whilst participants were excluded if they had
recent hamstring injury, spinal or lower limb nerve injury and history of spinal surgery.
Method: This study used a single-blinded randomised crossover design; where the
participants were divided into two groups, generic and specific mobilisations. This study
lasted two weeks and each group received one intervention per week, twice a week. Each
intervention was made of three sets of one minute at 2Hz with a 30-second break in
between. Pre and post measurements of lumbar and hamstring flexibility were taken with
MST and PSLR. The data was analysed with 12 Mann Whitney U tests and 12 Wilcoxon
Signed Ranks Tests and the significance level was set at p<0.05.
Results: The statistical analysis showed that both mobilisations significantly improved MST
during only week one (p<0.05), whilst PSLR experienced significant improvements during
session one in week one (p<0.05) and throughout week two (p<0.05). However, there was
no significant difference in MST and PSLR following the generic and L4-5 specific
mobilisations (p>0.05).
Conclusion: The results of this study suggested that both grade IV lumbar rotation
mobilisations could be used interchangeably for a short-term increase in lumbar and
hamstring flexibility.