Relationship between low back pain and lumbar and hip joint movement in desk workers.
Takaaki Nishimura, Ryo Miyachi
PMID 33132530WHAT IT FOUND
In 10 desk workers with chronic low back pain, higher pain scores correlated with a greater proportion of lumbar movement and a smaller proportion of hip movement during forward and backward bending.
The study cannot show which causes the other.
Key findings
01Pain intensity showed a positive correlation with the ratio of lumbar movement during maximum forward bending of the trunk.
02Pain intensity showed a negative correlation with the ratio of hip joint movement during maximum forward bending of the trunk.
03The study design did not allow determination of whether movement patterns caused pain or pain caused movement patterns.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
The sample size was very small (10 participants), limiting the reliability of the correlations. The study was cross-sectional, so it cannot determine whether the movement patterns caused the pain or if the pain altered the movement patterns. Participants were all female, so the findings may not apply to male desk workers. Only the final position of the bend was measured, not the movement strategy throughout the range of motion. Analysis was restricted to the sagittal plane, ignoring potential frontal or horizontal plane compensations.
Declared interests
The work was supported by a JSPS KAKENHI grant. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the correlation between high lumbar movement ratios and pain as proof that restricting lumbar motion will reduce pain. The study did not test any intervention and could not establish causality.