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Evaluation of a new device for measuring responses to posteroanterior forces in a patient population, Part 1:
J Latimer1, M M Goodsel, M Lee
1School of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Health Sciences, The University of Sydney, Lidcombe, New South Wales, Australia.
Background And Purpose:
This study determined the test-retest reliability of measurements of responses to posteroanterior (PA) forces made using a recently developed instrument.
Subject:
Twenty-two subjects with nonspecific low back pain participated.
Methods:
The length of the low- stiffness or "toe" region and the slope of the linear portion of the force-displacement curve were measured on two occasions. Reliability of repeated measurements was evaluated by intraclass correlation coefficients and percentage-of-agreement scores. The presence of a systematic change in the response to PA forces was evaluated by a paired-samples t test.
Results:
High reliability coefficients were obtained for both indices of the response to PA forces. The t test revealed no systematic change with repeated testing.
Conclusion And Discussion:
The new device provides highly reliable measurement of the lumbar PA force-displacement relationship and may prove useful in evaluating theories that have suggested a relationship between spinal symptoms and abnormal PA stiffness.