Gait Variability in Chronic Back Pain Sufferers With Experimentally Diminished Visual Feedback: A Pilot Study

Increased gait variability is common in chronic low back pain patients, which is a sign of their diminished proprioceptive feedback. When proprioceptive information is reduced, vision partly takes over the role of proprioception. Therefore, a loss of visual feedback would have a more negative effect in individuals with diminished proprioception. To test this hypothesis, 14 healthy individuals and 14 chronic low back pain patients walked with and without impairment goggles manipulating visual feedback. The variability of stride time, stride length, and minimum foot clearance was evaluated. The authors observed an interaction effect regarding minimum foot clearance variability indicating that pain patients showed higher gait variability with manipulated visual feedback. Reduced vision may cause exceeded tripping risk in individuals with diminished proprioception.