title: Development of a New Ultrasound-Based System for Tracking Motion of the Human Lumbar Spine: Reliability, Stability and Repeatability during Forward Bending Movement Trials.
abstract: The aim of this study was to develop a new method for quantifying intersegmental motion of the spine in an instrumented motion segment L4-L5 model using ultrasound image post-processing combined with an electromagnetic device. A prospective test-retest design was employed, combined with an evaluation of stability and within- and between-day intra-tester reliability during forward bending by 15 healthy male patients. The accuracy of the measurement system using the model was calculated to be ± 0.9° (standard deviation = 0.43) over a 40° range and ± 0.4 cm (standard deviation = 0.28) over 1.5 cm. The mean composite range of forward bending was 15.5 ± 2.04° during a single trial (standard error of the mean = 0.54, coefficient of variation = 4.18). Reliability (intra-class correlation coefficient = 2.1) was found to be excellent for both within-day measures (0.995-0.999) and between-day measures (0.996-0.999). Further work is necessary to explore the use of this approach in the evaluation of biomechanics, clinical assessments and interventions.
authors: Department of Physiotherapy, University of Malaga, Malaga, Spain; and School of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Health, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Electronic address: acuesta@uma.es.
authors: Antonio I
authors: AI
authors: Cuesta-Vargas
mesh_terms: D053587:Arthrometry, Articular / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004574:Electromagnetic Fields; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D006801:Humans; D008159:Lumbar Vertebrae / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000502:physiology*; D059346:Magnets; D008297:Male; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014463:Ultrasonography / Q000295:instrumentation*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Electromagnetic sensor; Human spine; Tracking motion; Ultrasound