Objective: Low back pain (LBP) is one of the most common and costly health problems. Changes in muscle activity and recruitment of lumbar deep muscles which are responsible for lumbar spine stability have been reported in patients with LBP. Different exercise programs are used in the treatment of such patients to improve spinal stability. The purpose of this study was to systematically review the effect of stabilization exercises on objective outcome measures in patients with non-specific chronic LBP in previous randomized controlled trials.

Materials & Methods: A literature search for the period of 2000-2012 was performed, using MEDLINE, PubMed, Google scholar, Science Direct, OVID and CINAHL databases. Low back pain, stabilization exercise, motor control exercise, segmental stabilization, transverse abdominis muscle, multifidus muscle, electromyography, ultrasound, ultrasonography, and randomized controlled trial were used as keywords. Muscle recruitment, postural balance control, muscle endurance, muscle size and lumbar range of motion were studied as objective outcome measures.

 Results: In total, of 158 articles, 13 articles were selected according to the inclusion criteria of the study. There was a wide variation among studies in terms of methodology, main outcome measures, sample size, procedure, etc. The results demonstrated that stabilization exercise was more effective than other interventions on activity pattern of deep muscles, postural balance control, muscle endurance and range of motion, while it was not significantly different with other interventions on deep muscle size. 

Conclusion: It seems that stabilization exercise has considerable effect on activity pattern of deep muscles, postural control, muscle endurance and range of motion and can be considered as an effective intervention in the treatment of patients with non-specific chronic LBP