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 ? " .
One‐Footed and Externally Disturbed Two‐Footed Postural Control in Patients With Chronic Low Back Pain and Healthy Control Subjects: A Controlled Study With Follow‐Up
Study Design . A study of postural control during one‐footed and externally disturbed two‐footed stance among healthy control subjects and patients with chronic low back pain at the beginning of a functional back restoration program and 6 months later at follow‐up examination . Objectives . To study postural control cross‐sectionally among control subjects and patients with low back pain , and to evaluate the effects of functional restoration on the postural control parameters in a follow‐up examination . Summary of Background Data . Deficits of motor skills and coordination have been reported in association with musculoskeletal disorders . It has been found that patients with chronic low back pain have impaired psychomotor control , but the impairment is reversible with successful low back rehabilitation . It is insufficiently known how functional activation and intensive physical training affect postural control . Methods . Sixty‐one healthy volunteers ( 32 men , 29 women ) and altogether 99 patients with low back pain participated in the study . Sixty‐eight patients ( 33 men , 35 women ) had moderate and 31 ( 18 men , 13 women ) had severe low back pain .  Postural stability was measured with a force platform . In two‐footed stance , vibration stimulation on calf and back muscles was used to disturb the balance . Center point of force‐velocity ( cm/sec ) , average position shift in anteroposterior direction ( cm ) , and maximal position shift in lateral direction ( cm ) were used as the parameters . Results . Reliability of all tests was acceptable . Center point of force‐velocity was the most sensitive parameter and the one‐footed measurement the most sensitivetest for evaluating postural stability . At the beginning , the patients with severe low back pain had poorer one‐footed postural control compared with the control subjects ( P = 0.0003 ) . The subgroup of patients with moderate low back pain participated in the restoration program . The outcome of  the restoration program was considered good if the disability because of low back pain ( Oswestry index ) decreased during the restoration program and poor if the disability increased or did not change . The one‐footed postural stability remained primarily at the same level as the initial results in the control and good outcome groups , but became significantly poorer in the poor outcome group . The difference between poor outcome and control groups was statistically significant ( P = 0.04 ) . Conclusions . Impaired postural stability seems to be one factor in multidimensional symptomatology of patients with chronic low back trouble . Postural stability is easily disturbed in case of impairment in strength , coordination , or effective coupling of muscles in the lumbar and pelvic area . Patients with chronic low back pain seem to experience impairment in these functions , which should be taken into consideration when back rehabilitation programs are planned
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 ? " .