Aquatic Exercise Impact on Pain Intensity, Disability and Quality of Life in Adults with Low Back Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Background Low back pain is a common, multifaceted disorder that directly affects diverse aspects of people’s lives in terms of health, personal and social lives. A variety of pathological disorders, including low back pain, may benefit from hydrotherapy. Objective This study aimed to systematically analyze the efficacy of aquatic exercise on pain intensity, disability, and quality of life among adults with low back pain. Data sources A systematic search was conducted in PubMed, Web of Science, Medline, and Scopus up to February 2023 for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that which examined the impact of aquatic exercise. The most relevant articles were selected based on research criteria. The PEDro scale was applied to assess the quality of the included studies. Review Manager 5.3 was used for conducting all analyses. Study selection Out of 856 articles, 14 RCTs ( n = 484 participants; 257 in the experimental groups and 227 in the control groups) met our inclusion criteria. Results Pooled results illustrated that aquatic exercises significantly reduced pain (mean differences (MD): −3.82; p < 0.00,001), improved disability (standardized mean differences (SMD): 1.65; p < 0.00,001), and improved quality of life in both the physical component score (mean difference (MD), 10.13; p < 0.00,001) and the mental component score (MD, 6.45; p < 0.0001) when compared with a control group. Conclusion The current review showed that aquatic exercise regimens were effective among adults with low back pain. High-quality clinical investigations are still needed to support the use of therapeutic aquatic exercise in a clinical setting.