Abstract
We report 3 patients who had restricted activities of daily living (ADL) because of chronic low back pain and sciatica who were successfully treated with wheelchair exercise. Their back pain and sciatica were caused by lumbar disc herniation or lumbar spinal canal stenosis. We considered that the pedaling motion by wheelchair exercise enables patients to participate in the exercise and is effective treatment that improves walking ability and ADL. We suggest that pedaling a wheelchair induces treatment not only of disuse syndrome factor, but also of fear avoidance. This report may indicate that wheelchair exercise is expected to be an introduction to a walking exercise for lumbago and sciatic pain patients.