Developing functional workspace for the movement of trunk circumduction in healthy young subjects: a reliability study

There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

Abstract

Background

The lumbar range of motion has traditionally been used to assess disability in patients with low back disorders. Controversy exists about how movement ranges in static positions or in a single straight plane is related to the functional status of the patients. The trunk circumduction, as the result of neuromuscular coordination, is the integrated movements from three dimensions. The functional workspace stands for the volume of movement configuration from the trunk circumduction and represents all possible positions in three dimensions. By using single quantitative value, the functional workspace substitutes the complicated joint linear or angular motions. The aim of this study is to develop the functional workspace of the trunk circumduction (FWTC) considering possible functional positions in three dimensional planes. The reliability of the trunk circumduction is examined.

Methods

Test-retest reliability was performed with 18 healthy young subjects. A three-dimensional (3-D) Motion Analysis System was used to record the trunk circumduction. The FWTC was defined and calculated based on the volume of the cone that was formed as the resultant scanned area of markers, multiplied by the length of the body segment. The statistical analysis of correlation was performed to describe the relation of maximal displacements of trunk circumduction and straight planes: sagittal and coronal.

Results

The results of this study indicate that the movement of trunk circumduction measured by motion analysis instruments is a reliable tool. The ICC value is 0.90-0.96, and the means and standard deviations of the normalized workspace are: C7 0.425 (0.1162); L1 0.843 (0.2965); and knee 0.014 (0.0106). Little correlations between the maximal displacement of trunk circumduction and that of straight planes are shown and therefore suggest different movement patterns exist.

Conclusions

This study demonstrates high statistical reliability for the FWTC, which is important for the potential development as the functional assessment technique. The FWTC provides a single integrated value to represent angular and linear measurements of different joints and planes. Future study is expected to carry out the FWTC to evaluate the amount of workspace for the functional status of patients with low back injuries or patients with spinal surgery.

Related collections

Most cited references 30

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Evaluation of specific stabilizing exercise in the treatment of chronic low back pain with radiologic diagnosis of spondylolysis or spondylolisthesis.

Neil P. O’Sullivan, Kevin Allison, G Phyty … (1997)

A randomized, controlled trial, test--retest design, with a 3-, 6-, and 30-month postal questionnaire follow-up. To determine the efficacy of a specific exercise intervention in the treatment of patients with chronic low back pain and a radiologic diagnosis of spondylolysis or spondylolisthesis. A recent focus in the physiotherapy management of patients with back pain has been the specific training of muscles surrounding the spine (deep abdominal muscles and lumbar multifidus), considered to provide dynamic stability and fine control to the lumbar spine. In no study have researchers evaluated the efficacy of this intervention in a population with chronic low back pain where the anatomic stability of the spine was compromised. Forty-four patients with this condition were assigned randomly to two treatment groups. The first group underwent a 10-week specific exercise treatment program involving the specific training of the deep abdominal muscles, with co-activation of the lumbar multifidus proximal to the pars defects. The activation of these muscles was incorporated into previously aggravating static postures and functional tasks. The control group underwent treatment as directed by their treating practitioner. After intervention, the specific exercise group showed a statistically significant reduction in pain intensity and functional disability levels, which was maintained at a 30-month follow-up. The control group showed no significant change in these parameters after intervention or at follow-up. A "specific exercise" treatment approach appears more effective than other commonly prescribed conservative treatment programs in patients with chronically symptomatic spondylolysis or spondylolisthesis.

0 comments Cited 153 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Objective clinical evaluation of physical impairment in chronic low back pain.

George Henderson, Paul Waddell, Philip M. Newton … (1992)

The aim of this study was to investigate physical impairment in patients with chronic low back pain, to develop a method of clinical evaluation suitable for routine use, and to consider the relationship between pain, disability, and physical impairment. Twenty-seven physical tests were investigated. Permanent anatomic and structural impairments of spinal deformities, spinal fractures, surgical scarring, and neurologic deficits were excluded as not relevant to the patient with low back pain in the absence of nerve root involvement or previous surgery. Three consecutive 20-patient reproducibility studies were used to develop reliable methods of examination for 23 of the tests. Only four tests were excluded as unreliable: sacral angle, pelvic tilt, and separate lumbar and pelvic extension, none of which are part of routine clinical examination or have any proven relationship to disability. The remaining 23 physical tests were evaluated in 70 asymptomatic subjects and 120 patients with chronic low back pain. Passive knee flexion, passive hip flexion, hip flexion strength, hip abduction strength, pain reproduction on each of these tests, and the prone extension strength test were excluded because they were too closely related to nonorganic and behavioral responses to examination. Eight tests successfully discriminated patients with low back pain from normal subjects and were significantly related to self-report disability in activities of daily living: pelvic flexion, total flexion, total extension, lateral flexion, straight leg raising, spinal tenderness, bilateral active straight leg raising, and sit-up. Factor analysis failed to demonstrate an underlying statistical dimension of physical impairment. However, an empirical combination of total flexion, total extension, average lateral flexion, average straight leg raising, spinal tenderness, bilateral active straight leg raising, and sit-up provided an equally satisfactory alternative. Simple cut-offs from normal subjects made the scale simple and quick to use. This final scale successfully discriminated 78% of patients and normal subjects and explained 25% of the variance of disability, with a specificity of 86% and sensitivity of 76%. This scale provides an objective clinical evaluation that meets the criteria for evaluating physical impairment, yet is simple, reliable, and suitable for routine clinical use. It should, however, be emphasized that all the tests included in the final scale are measures of current functional limitation rather than of permanent anatomic or structural impairment. This raises questions about the physical basis of permanent disability due to chronic low back pain.

0 comments Cited 42 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Prevalence of lumbar disc degeneration observed by magnetic resonance in symptomless women.

E P Szypryt, Bianca D M Wilson, M Powell … (1986)

302 women aged 16-80 without symptoms of spinal disease had their lumbar intervertebral discs examined by magnetic resonance. The prevalence of one or more degenerate discs increased linearly with age but disc degeneration was already present in over one-third of women aged 21-40; these young women may prove to be at special risk of disc prolapse later in life. The high prevalence of symptomless disc degeneration must be taken into account when magnetic resonance is used for assessment of spinal symptoms.

0 comments Cited 36 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

All references

Author and article information

Contributors

Su-Chun Cheng

Chieh-Hsiang Hsu

Yi-Ting Ting

Li-Chieh Kuo

Ruey-Mo Lin

Fong-Chin Su

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Biomed Eng Online

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Biomed Eng Online

Title: BioMedical Engineering OnLine

Publisher: BioMed Central

ISSN (Electronic): 1475-925X

Publication date Collection: 2013

Publication date (Electronic): 11 January 2013

Volume: 12

Page: 4

Affiliations

[1 ]Institute of Biomedical Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, No.1, Daxue Rd., East Dist., Tainan City, 701, Taiwan

[2 ]Department of Physical Therapy, Fooyin University, No.151, Jinxue Rd., Daliao Dist., Kaohsiung City, 831, Taiwan

[3 ]Department of Occupational Therapy, National Cheng Kung University, No.1, Daxue Rd., East Dist., Tainan City, 701, Taiwan

[4 ]Department of Orthopedics, National Cheng Kung University, No.1, Daxue Rd., East Dist., Tainan City, 701, Taiwan

[5 ]Medical Device Innovation Center, National Cheng Kung University, No.1, Daxue Rd., East Dist., Tainan City, 701, Taiwan

Article

Publisher ID: 1475-925X-12-4

DOI: 10.1186/1475-925X-12-4

PMC ID: 3598346

PubMed ID: 23311750

SO-VID: 59cc457d-6e18-4df4-b2ef-1f88485703e7

License:

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Developing functional workspace for the movement of trunk circumduction in healthy young subjects: a reliability study

Read this article at

Abstract

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Related collections

Journal of Disability Research

Most cited references 30

Evaluation of specific stabilizing exercise in the treatment of chronic low back pain with radiologic diagnosis of spondylolysis or spondylolisthesis.

Objective clinical evaluation of physical impairment in chronic low back pain.

Prevalence of lumbar disc degeneration observed by magnetic resonance in symptomless women.

Author and article information

Contributors

Journal

Affiliations

Article

History

Categories

Comments

Comment on this article

Similar content 286

Cited by 1

Most referenced authors 237