The most commonly reported outcome was range of motion .
Interpretation : The literature to date offers limited and inconsistent evidence of kinematic/kinetic measures in low back pain patients that could be used clinical ly .
HighlightsCurrent low back pain assessment relies on subjective measures .Use of objective measures ( kinematics/kinetics ) is encouraged in low back pain assessment .This review highlights the heterogeneity of studies with low back pain and healthy subjects .
Background : Currently , there is a widespread reliance on self‐reported question naires to assess low back pain patients .
However , it has been suggested that objective measures of low back pain patients ' functional status should be used to aid clinical assessment .
The aim of this study is to systematic ally review which kinematic /kinetic parameters have been used to assess low back pain patients against healthy controls and to propose clinical kinematic/kinetic measures .
Mechanical coupling between transverse plane pelvis and thorax rotations during gait is higher in people with low back pain.
This study investigated whether people with low back pain ( LBP ) reduce variability of movement between the pelvis and thorax ( trunk ) in the transverse plane during gait at different speeds compared to healthy controls . Thirteen people with chronic LBP and twelve healthy controls  walked on a treadmill  at speeds from 0.5 to 1.72 m/s , with increments of 0.11 m/s . Step-to-step variability of the trunk , pelvis , and thorax rotations were calculated . Step-to-step deviations of pelvis and thorax rotations from the average pattern ( residual rotations ) were correlated to each other , and the linear regression coefficients between these deviations calculated . Spectral analysis was used to determine the frequencies of the residual rotations , to infer the relation of reduced trunk variability to trunk stiffness and /or damping . Variability of trunk motion ( thorax relative to pelvis ) was lower ( P=0.02 ) , covariance between the residual rotations of pelvis and thorax motions was higher ( P=0.03 ) , and the linear regression coefficients were closer to 1 ( P=0.05 ) in the LBP group . Most power of segmental residual rotations was below stride frequency ( ~1 Hz ) . In this frequency range , trunk residual rotations had less power than pelvis or thorax residual rotations . These data show that people with LBP had lower variability of trunk rotations , as a result of the coupling of deviations of residual rotations in one segment to deviations of a similar shape ( correlation ) and amplitude ( regression coefficient ) in the other segment . These results support the argument that people with LBP adopt a protective movement strategy , possibly by increased trunk stiffness
The most commonly reported outcome was range of motion .
Interpretation : The literature to date offers limited and inconsistent evidence of kinematic/kinetic measures in low back pain patients that could be used clinical ly .
HighlightsCurrent low back pain assessment relies on subjective measures .Use of objective measures ( kinematics/kinetics ) is encouraged in low back pain assessment .This review highlights the heterogeneity of studies with low back pain and healthy subjects .
Background : Currently , there is a widespread reliance on self‐reported question naires to assess low back pain patients .
However , it has been suggested that objective measures of low back pain patients ' functional status should be used to aid clinical assessment .
The aim of this study is to systematic ally review which kinematic /kinetic parameters have been used to assess low back pain patients against healthy controls and to propose clinical kinematic/kinetic measures .