Abstract
Introduction and purpose: Pelvic tilt (PT) on the sagittal plane when standing can be defined as the rotation of the pelvis on a transverse axis. The use of PT is indicated for patients with chronic lumbar pain and/or spondylolisthesis. Current IP measurement methods require the use of radiographs or very complicated equipment. The purpose of this study is to describe a new fast and easy-to-use IP measurement technique and analyze its validity and reproducibility.
Materials and methods: The measurement system consists in calculating the height of the anterosuperior and posterosuperior iliac spines (to the ground) and the distance between them. Then, by means of a mathematical formula, a determination is made of the inclination of the plane that runs through the four spines with respect to the horizontal. Reproducibility was analyzed through repeat measurements of a group of 12 healthy volunteers. The validity of the method was analyzed by comparing the measurements obtained with those made on the basis of the lateral pelvis radiographs of 30 volunteers.
Results: The system described can be used to calculate the value of IP fast and with no need of radiographs or complicated equipment. The intraclass interobserver correlation coefficient measured for the method was .90 and the interobserver correlation coefficient was .80, which were considered excellent results. The mean errors observed when comparing the values obtained with the radiograph measurements were of less than 2° (R2: .48) (significant p< 0.001).
Conclusions: The measurement method described is easy to use, reproducible and valid vis-á-vis the use of radiographs.
The abstracts were prepared by Dr. E. Carlos Rodríguez-Merchán, Editor-in-Chief of the Spanish Journal of Orthopaedics and Traumatology (Revista de Ortopedia y Traumatología). Correspondence should be sent to him at Sociedad Española de Cirugía Ortopédica y Traumatología (SECOT), Calle Fernández de los Ríos, 108, 28015-Madrid, Spain
