Abstract
Background
Some studies report greater repositioning error in LBP patients compared to healthy subjects with other studies showing no differences. This conflicting evidence may be due to different methodologies. A new tool, the Flexchair¯Back Balance Trainer measures consistency of lumbo-pelvic movement during visual tracking tasks which challenge the lumbo-pelvic region. This study aimed to establish the within day (WD) and between day (BD) reliability of a lumbo-pelvic tracking task using the Flexchair in healthy subjects,
Method
22 subjects gave informed consent (10 females, 12 males (age 38.40(±9.29) Height 171.35cms (±8.07) weight 76.21kg (±18.55) Subjects completed six different tracking tasks on the Flexchair, 3 times in the first day with 2 hour of intervals between each test and once on a second and third visit with 2 days in between. Tests 1-6 are of increasing difficulty.
Results
Test1 WD ICC.200, SEM ±3.65, BD ICC .565, SEM± 1.06. Test 2WD ICC .471, SEM ±4.24, BD ICC.475, SEM ±5.46. Test 3 WD ICC .366, SEM± 5.20, BD ICC .405, SEM± 5.46. Test 4 WD ICC .522 SEM ±3.06, BD ICC.483, SEM± 4.49. Test 5 WD ICC .567, SEM± 4.66, BD ICC .718, SEM± 4.47. Test 6 WD ICC .630 SEM ± 3.47, BD ICC .474 SEM± 5.60.
Discussion
A substantial degree of variation exists in healthy subjects when performing a lumbo-pelvic tracking task, with poor to moderate reliability for all tasks apart from between day scores for Task 5. Further studies should be conducted on patients with LBP.
Conflicts of interest - None
Sources of funding - None
This abstract has not been previously published in whole or substantial part nor has it been presented previously at a national meeting.
