Are Supervised Exercises and TENS Necessary Along With Prescribed Home Exercises for Chronic Low Back Pain?

Six treatment sessions will be given over two weeks. Total duration of the treatment session may last from 40 - 60 minutes. * Equipment- TENS (CEFAR Basic TENS Machine) * Electrodes- Four channel electrode to cover the site of pain * Site of electrode placement- will be decided by the physical therapist to best suit or cover the area of pain based on complaints of patient based on the body chart. * Intensity- the intensity will be increased progressively until maximum tolerable intensity is reached. This stimulation may cause visible muscle contraction. This type of current is also referred to as Motor-level TENS, which is effective for chronic pain. The intensity will not be increased beyond 25 milli Amperes if no sensation is perceived by the patient. * Frequency- 5 Hertz * Duration- 30 minutes

Six sessions of supervised Motor control exercises will be provided over the period of two weeks. Exercises will be provided in order to target the function of core muscles of the spine. Each participant in the SMCE group will be trained by a physical therapist to recruit the deep muscles of the spine and reduce the activity of superficial muscles. Initially participants will be taught how to contract the transversus abdominis and multifidus muscles in isolation from the more superficial trunk muscles, but in conjunction with the pelvic floor muscles. Pressure biofeedback will be used in order to provide feedback about muscle recruitment to the participant. Exercises will be provided to the participants in the progressive manner. Later, movement of limbs will be incorporated with the contraction of the core muscles. Finally, these core muscle activation will be emphasized during the functional activities.