title: Assessing lumbar stabilization from point-light and normal video displays of manual lifting.
abstract: Routinely, physical therapists use visual observation to assess qualitatively a patient's performance. The literature, however, indicates that assessments of gait and lumbar stabilization from visual observation are at best only moderately reliable. Point-light video displays have been used to study the visual perception of human motion. The present purpose was to examine the reliability of assessments made by a physical therapist when viewing point light and normal video displays of subjects performing a lifting task. Three physical therapists assessed lumbar stabilization by viewing normal and point-light displays of 25 subjects who lifted an 8-lb. milkcrate from floor to waist height. Greater agreement of the therapists' ratings of lumbar stabilization was achieved on assessments made from point-light displays than on those made from normal displays. This finding suggests that the use of point-light displays may improve the reliability of qualitative assessments of performance on motor tasks.
authors.affiliation: Physical Therapy Program, University of Hartford, Connecticut 06117, USA. bellecchi@uhavax.hartford.edu
authors.forename: G L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Pellecchia
authors.forename: G E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Garrett
mesh_terms: D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D005684:Gait; D006801:Humans; D017770:Lifting; D008159:Lumbar Vertebrae / Q000502:physiology*; D009048:Motor Skills; D026741:Physical Therapy Modalities; D014743:Videotape Recording; D014796:Visual Perception