Šarabon Nejc, Vreček Nace, Hofer Christian, Löfler Stefan, Kozinc Žiga, Kern Helmut
Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Primorska, 6310 Izola, Slovenia.
Laboratory for Motor Control and Motor Behaviour, S2P, Science to Practice Ltd., 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Life (Basel). 2021 Mar 10;11(3):226. doi: 10.3390/life11030226.
An abundance of literature has investigated the association between low back pain (LBP) and physical ability or function. It has been shown that LBP patients display reduced range of motion, decreased balance ability, impaired proprioception, and lower strength compared to asymptomatic persons. The aim of this study was to investigate the differences between LBP patients and healthy controls in terms of several physical abilities. Based on the premised that different biomechanical and physiological causes and consequences could be related to different types of LBP, a secondary exploratory attempt of the study was to examine the differences between LBP subgroups based on the pain location (local or referred) or type of pathology (discogenic or degenerative) on the level of impairment of function and ability. Participants performed range of motion tests, trunk maximal voluntary contraction force tests, a sitting balance assessment, the timed up-and-go test, the chair rise test, and the trunk reposition error test. Compared to the control group, symptomatic patients on average showed 45.7% lower trunk extension ( < 0.001, η = 0.33) and 27.7 % lower trunk flexion force ( < 0.001, η = 0.37) during maximal voluntary contraction. LBP patients exhibited decreased sitting balance ability and lower scores in mobility tests (all < 0.001). There were no differences between groups in Schober's test and trunk repositioning error ( > 0.05). No differences were observed among the LBP subgroups. The exploratory analyses are limited by the sample size and uncertain validity of the diagnostic procedures within this study. Further studies with appropriate diagnostic procedures and perhaps a different subgrouping of the LBP patients are needed to elucidate if different types of LBP are related to altered biomechanics, physiology, and function.
大量文献研究了腰痛（LBP）与身体能力或功能之间的关联。研究表明，与无症状者相比，腰痛患者的活动范围减小、平衡能力下降、本体感觉受损且力量较弱。本研究的目的是调查腰痛患者与健康对照者在几种身体能力方面的差异。基于不同的生物力学和生理原因及后果可能与不同类型的腰痛相关这一前提，本研究的二次探索性尝试是根据疼痛部位（局部或牵涉痛）或病理类型（椎间盘源性或退行性），在功能和能力受损水平上检查腰痛亚组之间的差异。参与者进行了活动范围测试、躯干最大自主收缩力测试、坐位平衡评估、计时起立行走测试、椅子起立测试和躯干重新定位误差测试。与对照组相比，有症状的患者在最大自主收缩时，平均躯干伸展降低45.7%（<0.001，η=0.33），躯干屈曲力降低27.7%（<0.001，η=0.37）。腰痛患者的坐位平衡能力下降，在移动性测试中的得分较低（均<0.001）。在Schober试验和躯干重新定位误差方面，各组之间没有差异（>0.05）。在腰痛亚组之间未观察到差异。本研究中的探索性分析受到样本量和诊断程序有效性不确定的限制。需要进一步开展具有适当诊断程序的研究，或许对腰痛患者进行不同的亚组划分，以阐明不同类型的腰痛是否与生物力学、生理学和功能改变有关。
