Intra-rater and inter-rater reliability of neutral and target lumbar positioning tests in subjects with and without non-specific lower back pain.

Background: Proprioception, one's sense of movement and position, is a common term used in back rehabilitation. Kinesthetic rehabilitation may be useful in managing lower back pain; however, reliable measures are required to quantify lumbar proprioception sense.

Objective: To investigate intrarater and interrater reliability of neutral lumbar positioning (NLP) and target lumbar positioning (TLP) tests and compare the position sense errors in subjects with non-specific low back pain and healthy controls.

Methods: Intrarater (between-day) and interrater (within-day) reliability of NLP and TLP tests were assessed in 30 subjects with low back pain and 30 healthy subjects using a digital inclinometer. NLP is evaluated when the subject is repositioned to neutral from flexion, while TLP is evaluated in lumbar flexion, by bending laterally left and right.

Results: Intrarater reliability for NLP tests had ICC values of 0.85 and 0.89 and TLP tests had 0.78 and 0.92. Likewise, interrater reliability for NLP had ICC values of 0.75 and 0.85, and for the TLP test, the interrater reliability had 0.78 and 0.93. Subjects with back pain had significantly larger neutral and target lumbar proprioceptive errors compared to healthy controls (p< 0.001).

Conclusions: Intrarater and interrater reliability showed good agreement for both NLP and TLP tests of lumbar proprioception. Subjects with nonspecific low back pain have impaired lumbar proprioceptive sense.