• Jonathan M Williams, Inam Haq, and Raymond Y Lee.
• Bournemouth University, School of Health and Social Care, Royal London House, Christchurch Road, Bournemouth, Dorset BH1 3LT, UK. jwilliams@bournemouth.ac.uk.
• Bmc Musculoskel Dis. 2014 Jan 1; 15: 304.

BackgroundMovement alterations are often reported in individuals with back pain. However the mechanisms behind these movement alterations are not well understood. A commonly cited mechanism is pain. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of pain reduction, from oral analgesia, on lumbar kinematics in individuals with acute and chronic low back pain.MethodsA prospective, cross-sectional, experimental repeated-measures design was used. Twenty acute and 20 chronic individuals with low back pain were recruited from General Practitioner and self-referrals to therapy departments for low back pain. Participants complained of movement evoked low back pain. Inertial sensors were attached to the sacrum and lumbar spine and used to measure kinematics. Kinematic variables measured were range of motion, angular velocity and angular acceleration as well as a determining movement irregularity (a measure of deviation from smooth motion). Kinematics were investigated before and after administration of oral analgesia to instigate pain reduction.ResultsPain was significantly reduced following oral analgesia. There were no significant effects on the kinematic variables before and after pain reduction from oral analgesia. There was no interaction between the variables group (acute and chronic) and time (pre and post pain reduction).ConclusionThe results demonstrate that pain reduction did not alter lumbar range of motion, angular velocity, angular acceleration or movement irregularity questioning the role of pain in lumbar kinematics.

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