Chronic low back pain in men 54-63 years of age. Correlations of physical measurements with the degree of trouble and progress after treatment.

Conservative treatment for chronic low back pain was given to 151 men aged 54-63 years. Pretreatment back trouble and progress were assessed by subjective ratings in questionnaires before the treatment and at 2-, 6- and 12-month follow-up examinations. Physical measurements were made before the treatment and at the 2-month follow-up. Pretreatment low back trouble correlated significantly and positively with lumbar disc degeneration and negatively with spinal lateral flexion and rotation, hip flexion and extension, capacity for dynamic exercises, trunk isometric extension and flexion strength, and intraindividual trunk extension/flexion strength ratio. Progress was significantly associated with follow-up increases of spinal lateral flexion and rotation, hip flexion and lateral rotation, and trunk extension and flexion strength. Combinations of variables did not substantially improve their correlative power as indicators of low back trouble and progress.