Reproducibility of lumbar spine movement control tests in school adolescents

Abstract

Introduction: The reproducibility of the movement control tests of the lumbar spine was previously studied in adults. However, intra and inter-examiner reliability studies have not been performed in adolescents and, in addition, an analysis has not been performed considering the results of the tests together. Objective: To analyze the reproducibility (inter and intraexaminer
reliability) of the movement control tests of the lumbar spine alone and in combination (compensation score) in high school adolescents. Methods: Reliability study of
the lumbar spine movement control tests in adolescents, with self-report questionnaire and video of the participants. All participants answered socio demographic questions (age and gender), were conducted to a suitable location and verbal-oriented to perform the movement of the tests while they were filmed, producing twelve videos of each student. The videos were uploaded to a computer and sent to 3 evaluators, with at least 10 years of experience in
musculoskeletal physiotherapy, who were instructed to classify movement control tests in: 1 = no compensation, 2 = small compensation, 3 = moderate compensation, 4 = great compensation. One of the evaluators repeated the classification of the tests after one month so that intraexaminer reliability could be analyzed. Data analysis: The means, standard deviation and proportions will be described according to the nature of the variables studied. The inter and intra-examiner reliability analysis will be performed to test the reliability of each test separately using Kappa Coefficient (k) and together with the Intra-Class Correlation Coefficient (ICC). Confidence intervals (CI) of 95% will be calculate.