The purpose of this study was to compare lumbar segmental mobility in asymptomatic and symptomatic subjects during posterior to anterior (PA) spinal mobilization and a prone press-up (PU) maneuver. We hypothesized that persons with central low back pain would have an altered lumbar segmental mobility pattern compared to those without pain. Forty-five individuals with non-specific low back pain and 20 persons without low back pain participated. Each subject underwent dynamic imaging of the lumbar spine during a PA mobilization procedure and while performing a PU. Segmental motion was quantified as the change in the intervertebral angle between the resting and end-range vertebral positions.The results showed that there was no significant between-group difference in segmental angular displacement during the PA or PU. However, the symptomatic group had a larger percentage of subjects with evidence of single level segmental hypermobility than the asymptomatic group during the PA and PU procedures.
BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders 2007, 8:8
Full free article (pdf)