• R Williams, J Binkley, R Bloch, C H Goldsmith, and T Minuk.
• School of Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy, Hamilton Civic Hospitals, Henderson General Division, Ontario, Canada.
• Phys Ther. 1993 Jan 1;73(1):33-44.

Background And PurposeThe primary purpose of this study was to determine the reliability of lumbar flexion and extension range-of-motion measurements obtained with the modified-modified Schöber and the double inclinometer methods on subjects with low back pain.SubjectsFifteen patients (8 women, 7 men), aged 25 to 53 years (mean = 35.7, SD = 9.9), with chronic low back pain were measured by three physical therapists with 3 to 12 years (mean = 8.3, SD = 4.7) of clinical experience.MethodsThe therapists used the modified-modified Schöber and double inclinometer techniques to measure, in random order and on two occasions, the subjects' lumbar flexion and extension.ResultsPearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficients for test-retest reliability for the modified-modified Schöber technique varied from .78 to .89 for lumbar flexion and from .69 to .91 for extension; for the double inclinometer method, Pearson correlation coefficients varied from .13 to .87 for lumbar flexion and from .28 to .66 for extension. Analysis of variance-derived intraclass correlation coefficients for interrater reliability for the modified-modified Schöber technique were .72 for flexion and .76 for extension; for the double inclinometer technique, they were .60 for flexion and .48 for extension.Conclusion And DiscussionThe modified-modified Schöber method thus appears to be a reliable method for measuring lumbar flexion and extension for patients with low back pain, whereas the double inclinometer technique needs improvement.

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