A previous review concluded that postural sway is increased in patients with low back pain ( LBP ) .
In a minority of studies , a decreased sway was found in LBP patients .
There were no systematic differences between studies finding an effect and those reporting no effect of LBP .
The proportion of studies finding between-group differences did not increase with increased complexity of sensory manipulations .
However , more detailed analysis of the literature shows that postural deficit may be dependent on experimental conditions in which patients with LBP have been assessed .
The research question to be answered in this review was : " Is there any difference in postural sway between subjects with and without LBP across several sensory manipulation conditions ? " .
The Influence of Back Pain on Balance and Functional Mobility in 65- to 75-Year-Old Women with Osteoporosis

Abstract : To determine whether the presence of back pain and its related disabilities are determinants of balance and functional mobility in a group of women with osteoporosis , we carried out a cross-sectional analysis of 93 community-dwelling women with osteoporosis between the ages of 65 and 75 years old . We assessed health history , anthropometrics , self-report of current physical activity level and self-report of back pain ( intensity and pain-related disabilities ) . Balance  was measured by computerized dynamic posturography and functional mobility was assessed by timed figure-of-eight test .  The prevalence of back pain was high ( 75 % ) in this cohort of older women with osteoporosis . Age was the major determinant of both balance and functional mobility and accounted for 9 % and 14 % of the variance , respectively . After accounting for age , back pain explained an additional 9 % of the variance in balance and 13 % of the variance in functional mobility . The high prevalence of back pain demonstrates the importance of pain management in the treatment of osteoporosis . Furthermore , the finding of self-reported back pain as a determinant of both balance and functional mobility suggests that this measure may deserve attention when screening women with osteoporosis for fracture risk . Prospect i ve studies are needed to determine whether pain management will improve balance and functional mobility
A previous review concluded that postural sway is increased in patients with low back pain ( LBP ) .
In a minority of studies , a decreased sway was found in LBP patients .
There were no systematic differences between studies finding an effect and those reporting no effect of LBP .
The proportion of studies finding between-group differences did not increase with increased complexity of sensory manipulations .
However , more detailed analysis of the literature shows that postural deficit may be dependent on experimental conditions in which patients with LBP have been assessed .
The research question to be answered in this review was : " Is there any difference in postural sway between subjects with and without LBP across several sensory manipulation conditions ? " .