Sensitivity, specificity and predictive value of the clinical trunk muscle endurance tests in low back pain.
OBJECTIVE
To describe the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and diagnostic accuracy of five clinical tests used to measure trunk muscle endurance in low back pain.


METHODS
A cross-sectional non-experimental design.


METHODS
Orthopaedic and physical therapy departments of four hospitals and outpatient physical therapy clinics, Tehran, Iran.


METHODS
Convenience sample of 200 subjects participated in this study. Subjects were categorized into four groups: men without low back pain (N = 50, mean (SD) age = 38 (12) years), women without low back pain (N = 50, mean (SD) age = 43 (11) years), men with low back pain (N = 50, mean (SD) age = 39 (12) years) and women with low back pain (N = 50, mean (SD) age = 43 (12) years).


METHODS
Five clinical static endurance tests of trunk muscles such as: Sorensen test, prone isometric chest raise test, prone double straight-leg raise test, supine isometric chest raise test and supine double straight-leg raise test were measured in each group.


RESULTS
The result of receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve analysis revealed that in a separate analysis of data for men and women, among all tests, the prone double straight-leg raise test had the highest sensitivity, specificity and predictive value in low back pain compared with other performed tests.


CONCLUSIONS
It seems that the prone double straight-leg raise test has more sensitivity, specificity and predictive value in low back pain than other tests and could be used as a useful clinical method for testing the spinal muscle endurance to predict the probability of the occurrence of low back pain.
Arab
Amir Massoud
AM
Department of Physical Therapy, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Evin. arabloo_masoud@hotmail.com
Salavati
Mahyar
M
Ebrahimi
Ismaeil
I
Ebrahim Mousavi
Mohammad
M
D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D015444:Exercise; D005080:Exercise Test / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017116:Low Back Pain / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010807:Physical Endurance; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012372:ROC Curve