Reliability of pressure biofeedback instrument in patients with low back pain / 中国组织工程研究

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND:Treatment programs for low back pain are of great varieties, but there is stil no a definite treatment. Pressure biofeedback instrument is a tool to measure abdominal muscle activity, and its reliability in the treatment of low back pain is less reported. OBJECTIVE:To explore the reliability and feasibility of the pressure biofeedback instrument for assessment of low back pain. METHODS:Thirty patients with chronic low back pain were enrol ed and subject to four kinds of postures:posture A was prone position;posture B was supine position with flexion of the knee joints, posture C was supine position with unilateral flexion of the hip and knee joint, posture D was prone position with unilateral shoulder flexion. Intra-abdominal pressure values under the different postures were measured twice within a week in the same subject. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was used to assess the reliability. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Posture A had good test-retest reliability, and the value of ICC was 0.853 (95%confidence interval:0.691-0.930);posture B showed moderate test-retest reliability, and the ICC value was 0.751 (95%confidence interval:0.477-0.882);posture C also had moderate test-retest reliability, and the ICC value was 0.789 (95%confidence interval:0.557-0.900), posture D had good test-retest reliability, and the value of ICC was 0.892 (95%confidence interval:0.641-0.919). Therefore, the pressure biofeedback for evaluation of low back pain has good reliability, which can be used for the evaluation of low back pain.