"An Innovative Intervention Approach for Chronic Pain Management in Pediatric Static Vertebral Disorders through Physical Therapy"

Abstract

"Introduction: In this study, we aimed to assess the effectiveness of a novel physical therapy intervention in managing chronic pain associated with pediatric static vertebral disorders. Methods and materials: The investigation encompassed both clinical variables, such as pain perception measured by a visual analog scale (VAS), and morpho-functional variables related to developmental level and spinal status: weight (W, kg), height (H, cm), body mass index (BMI), scapular/shoulder asymmetry (SA, cm), thoracolumbar fold asymmetry (TFA, cm), sacral dimples asymmetry (SDA, cm), intergluteal cleft deviation (ICD, cm), scoliosis measurement (SM, cm), right lumbar lateral flexion (RLLF, cm), left lumbar lateral flexion (LLLF, cm), and Cobb angle. The study involved a cohort of 48 subjects, aged between 8 and 12 years, who were divided into experimental and control groups. The experimental group underwent a six-month physical therapy-based rehabilitation program, while the control group did not receive any intervention during this period. Both groups underwent clinical and morpho-functional evaluations before and after the intervention. The analysis, conducted through a two-way repeated measures ANOVA, intended to explore the interaction between group and time of assessment on each dependent variable. Results: The results revealed significant differences in several variables (VAS scores, SA, TFA, SDA, ICD, SM, RLLF, LLLF, and Cobb angle) between the experimental and control groups (p ≤ 0.02), suggesting a discernible impact of the intervention on physiological and functional parameters related to spinal deformities and chronic pain management. Discussion: The intervention applied to the experimental group produced significant changes in key variables relevant for clinical assessment and morpho-functional analysis, indicating its notable impact on physiological and functional parameters. Conclusions: This study underscores the significant effect of tailored physical therapy interventions in mitigating chronic pain and improving morpho-functional aspects in pediatric spinal deformities."