فهرست نشریات علمی دسترسی آزاد ایران

BACGROUND: Low back pain (LBP) has been regarded as one of the musculoskeletal problemswhich is affecting more than three‑quarters of individuals in their lifetime. Nowadays, variouspharmacological and nonpharmacological therapies are employed for relieving and treating LBP. Thisstudy was conducted to compare the effects of topical hot salt and hot sand on patients’ perceptionof LBP.MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this, quasi‑experimental study patients with LBP referring to theorthopedic clinic of Shahrekord educational hospital were divided randomly into two interventions andone control group in 2020. All three groups were received naproxen cream and daily physiotherapyin the same manner, the interventional groups in addition either topical hot salt or topical hot sand.Data gathering tool for measuring patients’ perception of LBP was the McGill Pain Short FormQuestionnaire to be completed at the beginning, immediately at the end, and 2 months after theintervention. The data were analyzed using SPSS statistical software (version 21.0).RESULTS: Totally, 90 patients were randomized based on the table of random numbers (mean age51.1 + 11.1), and finally, 87 patients completed the study. Patients’ perception of LBP before theintervention was homogenous in hot salt, hot sand, and the control group The mean score of totalpain experience before the intervention was 14.1 ± 11.3 for hot sand, 13.9 ± 10.7 for hot salt and13.7 ± 10.1 for control group The mean scores of these three groups were not significant before theintervention (P > 0.05). The mean score of total pain experience immediately after the interventionwas 6.7 ± 4.2 for hot sand, 5.2 ± 3.1 for hot salt and 13.9 ± 9.8 for control group. The mean scoresof the hot sand group and the hot salt group were significantly decreased compared with controlgroup (P > 0.05). The mean score of total pain experience two months after the intervention was5.6 ± 3.27 for hot sand, 4.21 ± 2.14 for hot salt and 13.8 ± 10.4 for control group. Mean score of totalpain experience in both intervention groups had significantly reduced two months after the interventioncompared to control group (P ≤ 0.001); so that the effect of hot salt treatment on reducing totalpain experience was larger than hot sand (P ≤ 0.001). The same trend was observed for VAS andPresent pain intensity variables.CONCLUSIONS: The findings have revealed that the topical treatments with hot salt and hot sandcould have a significant effect on the perception of LBP compared to those in the control group;whereas hot salt might be stronger effects than hot sand on reducing LBP.