Acceso usuarios
Mª. J. Peydro Rico, J. López, A. Cortés, M.J. Vivas, J.D. Garrido
Introduction Evaluation of patients with low back pain may be influenced by psychosocial and work-related issues. Objective clinical parameters are needed in order to improve the diagnosis of these patients. The aim of this work is to develop an instrumental functional assessment, using photogrammetry and force platforms, for subjects with lower back pain, and to obtain movement models both for normal subjects and for those with lumbar conditions.
Material and methods The «sit-to-stand» movement was analyzed in 51 healthy subjects and in 90 patients with chronic lower back pain. An analysis of the variance between the parameters obtained from the group of normal subjects and those suffering lower back pain, with a 95% confidence interval and a significance level of P<.05 was performed.
Results The maximum normalized vertical force shown by the normal subjects (100.01%) was greater than that of those with lower back pain (92.43%). The time taken to perform the action by patients with chronic lower back pain (3.18 s) was greater than that by the healthy ones (2.27 s). This lengthening of time span is mainly found in the load-releasing phase. The differences found within these parameters, between the groups analyzed are statistically significant (P<.0001), thus making it possible for us to differentiate objectively between those who are healthy and those with lower back pain.
Conclusions Instrumental functional assessment allows us to differentiate objectively between the subjects suffering lower back pain and those who are healthy. Therefore, they are useful as a complementary medical test
