NIOSH (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) Low Back Atlas of Standardized Test/Measures

摘要

A standardized list of tests and measures was developed for use by health care practitioners in the medical and industrial communities who are called upon to assess low back musculoskeletal injuries. The project covered 5 years of clinical evaluations and statistical analyses, producing an atlas of tests and measures which serve as a foundation and starting point for a larger, comprehensive Low Back Evaluation System. The information provided was not meant to assist the practitioner in classifying a low back musculoskeletal injury into a medical, discal, internal derangement, traumatic or any other category. The practitioner must first make the decision that the problem is a low back musculoskeletal injury. The tests and measures included have reliability coefficients of at least .75 for Cohen's Kappa and .80 coefficients for Interclass Correlation (ICC). The tests included provide assessment of the lumbar lordosis, iliac crest, posterior superior iliac spine, anterior superior iliac spine, side bending to the right and to the left and total excursion of motion each way, hip joint range of motion, sustained extension in prone lying, single straight leg raising, double straight leg raising, hamstring length, hip flexor muscle strength, lower abdominal muscle strength, and gluteus medium muscle strength.