Reliability of assessing trunk motor control using position and force tracking and stabilization tasks

Area of Science:

• Biomechanics
• Motor Control
• Rehabilitation Science

Background:

• System-based methods are increasingly used to evaluate trunk motor control.
• The reliability of these methods, crucial for clinical application, particularly in back pain assessment, has not been fully established.
• Quantifying the reliability of trunk motor control assessment is essential for accurate diagnosis and treatment monitoring.

Purpose of the Study:

• To quantify the within- and between-day reliability of systems-based methods for trunk motor control assessment.
• To evaluate the dependability of position and force tracking and stabilization tasks.
• To establish the validity of these methods for research and clinical use.

Main Methods:

• Ten healthy subjects performed six trunk motor control tasks: position tracking, force tracking, position stabilization, and force stabilization.
• Tasks involved controlling trunk angular position and flexion/extension force in the sagittal plane.
• Reliability was assessed using time and frequency domain error analyses, intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC), and coefficients of multiple correlations (CMC) over two separate days.

Main Results:

• All tested tasks demonstrated excellent reliability.
• Between-day reliability (ICC) was ≥0.8, and within-day reliability (CMC) was >0.85 for all tasks.
• Between-day frequency response curve reliability (CMC) exceeded 0.75.

Conclusions:

• Systems-based methods for assessing trunk motor control, including position and force tracking and stabilization tasks, are reliable.
• These findings support the use of these methods for accurate and consistent evaluation of trunk motor control.
• The established reliability enhances the potential for these techniques in clinical settings, especially for individuals with back pain.