Pain, Clinical Tests, and Disability in Individuals With Radicular Low Back Pain: A Responsiveness and Correlation...

Area of Science:

• Rehabilitation Medicine
• Clinical Biomechanics
• Pain Management

Background:

• Recurrent low back pain (RLBP) significantly impacts patient function and quality of life.
• Assessing the responsiveness of clinical measures is crucial for evaluating therapeutic interventions in RLBP.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the responsiveness of pain, clinical tests, and disability measures in individuals with RLBP following therapeutic interventions.

Main Methods:

• Thirty-two RLBP patients were evaluated for pain intensity, straight leg raising (SLR), five-meter walk test (5MWT), and Modified Oswestry Disability Index (MODI).
• Assessments were conducted at baseline, immediately after, and at 1 and 2 weeks post-intervention.
• Change scores and effect sizes (ES) were calculated to determine responsiveness.

Main Results:

• Pain intensity (at rest and at worst) demonstrated high responsiveness with large effect sizes (ES=3.6) at 2 weeks.
• Clinical tests, including SLR and 5MWT, were responsive with large ES (ES=0.9) at 2 weeks.
• The Modified Oswestry Disability Index (MODI) also showed responsiveness at 2 weeks (ES=1.0).

Conclusions:

• Pain intensity, SLR, 5MWT, and MODI are responsive measures in RLBP patients.
• Responsiveness was evident at 2 weeks following therapeutic interventions.
• These findings support the use of these measures for tracking treatment effects in RLBP.