Background & Aims

Overview: Leg Lateral Reach Test (LLRT) was developed by Kim et al. (2017) in healthy subjects and adapted by Pontes-Silva et al. (2021) for patients with chronic low back pain. LLRT is reliable and inexpensive, however, it does not have a cut-off point to diagnose adequate thoraco-lumbo-pelvic mobility, making it just another test whose evaluation generates data that cannot define a prognosis. As such, we aimed to establish a cut-off point for the thoraco-lumbo-pelvic rotation range through LLRT in patients with chronic low back pain.

Methods

Methods: This study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Universidade Federal do Maranhão (report number: 2.892.673). In the chronic low back pain group (LBPG, n=35) we included patients aged 18 to 59 years, both sexes, score ?4 on the Baecke Habitual Physical Activity Questionnaire, body mass index ?26, disability level ?3 on the Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire, and pain level ?3 on the Numeric Pain Rating Scale. In the healthy control group (HCG, n=35), patients have the same characteristics (except for pain and disability). We used the ROC curve to check the rate of true positives versus false positives in different ranges of motion in the LLRT, and found the best LLRT cut-off point using the mathematical model (1 – sensitivity)2 + (1 – specificity)2.

Results

Results: The sample is mainly composed of women (HCG=65.71%; LBPG=82.85%, p=0.101) and 68.42% of its characteristics (13 of 19 comparisons between groups) showed a significant difference (p?0.05) and effect size ranging from moderate to large (Cohen’s d ?0.5). The cut-off point with ideal sensitivity and specificity was ?82.85 cm.

Conclusions

Conclusion: Patients with chronic low back pain and a range ?82.85cm on LLRT have hypomobility in the thoraco-lumbo-pelvic rotation range.

References

Kim, S. hyun, Kwon, O. yun, Park, K. nam, Hwang, U. jae, 2017. Leg lateral reach test: The reliability and correlation with thoraco-lumbo-pelvic rotation range. J. Sci. Med. Sport 20, 2–5. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2016.04.006

Pontes-Silva, A., Avila, M.A., de Araujo, A. da S., Penha, T.F.C., Takahasi, H.Y., Bassi-Dibai, D., Dibai-Filho, A.V., 2021. Assessment of the Reliability of the Leg Lateral Reach Test to Measure Thoraco-Lumbo-Pelvic Rotation in Individuals With Chronic Low Back Pain. J. Manipulative Physiol. Ther. 44, 566–572. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmpt.2021.12.001

Presenting Author

André Pontes-Silva

Poster Authors

André Pontes-Silva

PhD Student

UFSCar (Brazil)

Lead Author

E-mail

Aliny da Silva de Araujo

undergrad PT student

CEST (BR)

Lead Author

E-mail

Cassius Iury Anselmo-e-Silva

PT

UFSCar (BR)

Lead Author

E-mail

Aldair Darlan Santos-de-Araújo

PT

UFSCar (BR)

Lead Author

E-mail

Almir Vieira Dibai-Filho

Ph.D.

Federal University of Maranhão

Lead Author

E-mail

Mariana Avila

Universidade Federal de São Carlos

Lead Author

E-mail

Topics

  • Specific Pain Conditions/Pain in Specific Populations: Low Back Pain