[The application of general magnetic therapy for the rehabilitation of the patients following the surgical treatment of herniated intervertebral discs].

AIM: The objective of the present work was to rehabilitate more efficiently the patients who had undergone the surgical treatment for herniated discs in the lumbosacral spine by applying general magnetic therapy during the combined treatment.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: A total of 73 patients underwent the medical examination and treatment. The patients matched for age and sex presenting with similar clinical symptoms were divided into two groups. All of them received initial therapy that included medication, therapeutic physical exercises, and aquatic therapy. The patients in the main study group were given, in addition, general magnetic therapy. All the patients had their lower back examined before and after the treatment; moreover, they were asked to report their pain intensity based on the visual-analogue scale. The patients had their spinal and lower extremity temperature measured by means of thermal scanning with the use of remote infrared thermography and the non-invasive thermal imaging to check temperature fluctuations. To evaluate the psycho-emotional condition of the patients and to obtain their quality of life characteristics, they were asked to fill up the WAM (wellbeing, activity, mood) questionnaire; moreover, the disability Index was determined using the Oswestry questionnaire (version 2.1.), and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) was employed.

RESULTS: 75.7% of the patients in the main group had the positive treatment results in the form of improvement of the affected movement skills, sensory processing abilities, and reflex functions as compared with the 58,3% success rate among the patients in the control groupd. Based on the data of non-invasive infrared thermal imaging, the patients of the main group had significantly lower post-treatment topical hyperthermia in the region of the surgical intervention in comparison with the controls which suggested the reduction of the severity of the inflammatory process and the manifestations of the muscular-tonic syndrome. Their temperature dropped by 1,46±0,07 °С in contrast to the patients of the control group whose temperature decreased only by 0,91±0,04 °С (р<0.05). These observations gave evidence that the inflammation had been alleviated and the muscle tension relieved. The adopted recovery program promoted, in addition, a temperature drop at the area of the skin innervated by the affected root. It has been found that not only the pain subsided and the compromised motor skills and sensory processing abilities improved but also the quality of life tended to ameliorate resulting in the occupational rehabilitation of the patients following the surgical treatment of herniated intervertebral discs.

CONCLUSION: It has been found that the addition of general magnetic therapy to the combined treatment of the patients who had undergone the surgical treatment of herniated intervertebral discs favourably affects the clinical symptoms of the disease, intensifies regeneration, as well as improves blood circulation in the area affected by surgery, improves the psychoemotional state and the quality of life of the patients in such conditions thus making therapy considerably more efficient by preventing the complications and significantly shortening the duration of the treatment. .