Hip and lumbar continuous motion characteristics during flexion and return in young healthy males

Studies describing the movement patterns, relative contributions and kinematic characteristics of the lumbar spine and hip present conflicting results. Differences could be due to sample characteristics, methodological issues and descriptive methods. The purpose of this study was to describe the amount and pattern of lumbar spine and hip movement during flexion and return using a range of kinematic and temporal variables. Our aim is to gain a more complete picture of movement patterns taking place at the hip and lumbar spine in asymptomatic individuals. Ultimately the development of a normative database of movement patterns will help to clarify comparative movement interpretation in patients with lumbar back pain. This study analysed lumbar spine and hip motion in group of young healthy males (n = 20) during the flexion and return movement. A motion analysis system captured continuous movement profiles in the sagittal plane. Each participant performed five trials of flexion and return. The angular and velocity data were averaged and used for statistical and descriptive analysis. The kinematic and temporal variables distinguishing statistically significant differences in the lumbar spine and hip movement patterns are not the same for the flexion and return movement. However, within this group four (20%) demonstrated a pattern angular change between the lumbar spine and hip which was different from the other participants. Even within a healthy group of participants individual differences exist in the lumbar spine and hip movement patterns during flexion and return.