• P Calmels, F Béthoux, A Condemine, and I Fayolle-Minon.
• Unité PPEH-GIP E2S EA 3062, faculté de médecine Jacques-Lisfranc, université Jean-Monnet et service de médecine physique et de réadaptation, hôpital Bellevue, CHU de Saint-Etienne, 42055 Saint-Etienne cedex 02, France. paul.calmels@chu-st-etienne.fr
• Ann Readapt Med Phys. 2005 Jul 1;48(6):288-97.

ObjectivesTo identify and compare low back pain functional assessment tools and to determine their characteristics and the selection criteria for their use.Materials And MethodWe systematically searched Medline with the key words: low back pain, scale validity, questionnaire, assessment, outcome, and functional evaluation and with some data from the "Guide des Outils de Mesure et d'Evaluation en Médecine Physique et de Réadaptation", which allowed us to complete the search on specific tools including the Roland Disability Questionnaire, Dallas Pain Questionnaire, Quebec Back Pain Questionnaire, and Oswestry Back Pain Questionnaire. We restricted our analysis to studies about the psychometric properties of functional tools.ResultsWe identified 19 scales or questionnaires, 9 specifically for low back pain and with a concept of functional incapacity. Four tools are recognised as having good psychometric properties and are widely used with linguistic adaptations in different countries. We also identified 10 generic tools proposed to assess outcome in low back pain, which are more conceptually linked to perceived health status, quality of life, and pain assessment.ConclusionA "gold standard" to evaluate disability in low back pain does not exist, but only 4 tools (the Dallas Pain Questionnaire, Roland Disability Questionnaire, Quebec Back Pain Disability Scale and Oswestry Low Back Pain Disability Questionnaire) demonstrated strong qualities (content and construct validity, feasibility, linguistic adaptation and international use).

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