Journal of back and musculoskeletal rehabilitation
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J Back Musculoskelet Rehabil · May 2016
Intra-examiner reliability of lumbar spine and neuro-dynamic flexibility measurements in an older and overweight healthy asymptomatic population.
Measurement of lumbar spine movement and neuro-dynamic flexibility is fundamental to clinical examination and forms part of most systems or protocols used to classify patients with low back pain. However, the increased age and body mass index reported in the chronic low back pain subgroup, may compromise the reliability of these measurements. Specifically, this relates to greater soft tissue excursion relative to the underlying bony landmarks used for these clinical tests. ⋯ This study was conducted on an asymptomatic older, overweight population and the ICC results support the suitability of these methods and tools for measurement in a clinical setting for this population demographic. Measurement reliability in the study population was comparable with previous research in populations of contrasting demographics. Accordingly, further investigation specifically in a chronic low back pain population is indicated as the paucity of previous literature for some of the movement tests disallowed comparisons, and the reliability reported in this study may not be directly transferable to a chronic low back pain population.