The relative responsiveness of 3 different types of clinical outcome measures on chiropractic patients with low back pain.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study is to compare the responsiveness/sensitivity of 3 fundamentally different types of outcome measures in low back pain.


METHODS
This study is a longitudinal evaluation of outcome measures. Thirty-one private chiropractic practices in Denmark participated in this study. The outcome measures chosen for this study are the serial measurements using the Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire, the patient's prospective global assessment on a visual analog scale, and the patient's retrospective global assessment of improvement on a visual analog scale.


RESULTS
The 3 outcome measures differed significantly in their ability to register clinical improvement, with the retrospective global assessment of improvement being the most responsive.


CONCLUSIONS
More research is needed in this area, and caution must be taken in choosing outcome measures for randomized clinical trials on low back pain.
Hare-Mortensen
Lene
L
Human Locomotion Science, Institute of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics, University of Southern Denmark, 5230 Odense M, Denmark.
Lauridsen
Henrik
H
Grunnet-Nilsson
Niels
N
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D017116:Low Back Pain / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D026882:Manipulation, Chiropractic; D008875:Middle Aged; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care / Q000592:standards*; D010147:Pain Measurement; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires