Efficacy of Core Stability in Non-Specific Chronic Low Back Pain.

(1) Background: Management of chronic low back pain (cLBP) is often multidisciplinary, involving a combination of treatments, including therapeutic exercises. Core stability exercises aim to improve pain and disability in cLBP increasing spinal stability, neuromuscular control, and preventing shear force that causes injury to the lumbar spine. The purpose of this study was to review the available evidence about the effectiveness in reducing pain and improving disability of core stability exercises for non-specific cLBP. (2) Methods: We perform a systematic research on common Medline databases: PubMed, Pedro, and Cochrane Library. Search results were limited to articles written in English and published between January 2005 and November 2020.The search provided a total of 420 articles. Forty-nine articles met the inclusion criteria and 371 articles were excluded. (3) Results: Core stability provides great therapeutic effects in patients with non-specific chronic low back pain reducing pain intensity, functional disability, and improving quality of life, core muscle activation, and thickness. Evidences suggest that core stability is more effective than rest or no/minimal intervention and combination with other types of exercise for cLBP have shown grater efficacy. (4) Conclusion: Core stability could be proposed in a comprehensive approach in cLBP, the combination with other modalities of therapeutic exercise should be promoted. Patient compliance is crucial to determine the efficacy of the intervention.

Low Molecular Weight Hyaluronic Acid (500-730 Kda) Injections in Tendinopathies-A Narrative Review.

Tendinopathies are common causes of pain and disability in general population and athletes. Conservative treatment is largely preferred, and eccentric exercise or other modalities of therapeutic exercises are recommended. However, this approach requests several weeks of consecutive treatment and could be discouraging. In the last years, injections of different formulations were evaluated to accelerate functional recovery in combination with usual therapy. Hyaluronic acid (HA) preparations were proposed, in particular LMW-HA (500-730 kDa) for its unique molecular characteristics in favored extracellular matrix homeostasis and tenocyte viability. The purpose of our review is to evaluate the state-of-the-art about the role of 500-730 kDa in tendinopathies considering both preclinical and clinical findings and encourage further research on this emerging topic.