Diagnosis of Low Back Injury Using Strength Measurement

Abstract

A study was conducted to investigate the feasibility of using strength measurement as a diagnostic technique for assessing low back injuries involving symptomatic lumbar spine disease. The approach was to evaluate differences in the rates of strength build-up and in the variability of sustained lifting exertions performed by three groups of subjects. These groups included healthy subjects performing maximal exertions, healthy subjects performing submaximal exertions and symptomatic subjects with low back pain performing safe maximal exertions. The rate of strength build-up reliably distinguished between maximal and submaximal exertions while the ratio of within-trial variability to strength score differed significantly between the healthy and injured groups. Discriminant analysis was employed with partial success in distinguishing between the three groups using various derived measures of the force exertions.