title: Reproducibility of the low back clinical postural grouping in adolescents.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to analyze the intra- and inter-rater reliability of the Low Back Clinical Postural Grouping (LBCPG).
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifty-eight school adolescents were evaluated by lateral photography. The examiners classified the posture of the participants as: hyperlordotic, sway back, flat back or neutral. The intra- and inter-rater reliability were quantified by the percentage agreement between clinicians and the kappa coefficient with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The intra-rater percentage agreement was 91.4%, k = 0.87 (95% IC 0.77-0.98, p < 0.001) for the more experienced rater, and 86.2% k = 0.79 (IC 95% 0.62-0.96, p < 0.001) for the less experienced rater. The percentage agreement between clinicians was 55.17% k = 0.39 (95% CI: 0.23-0.55, p < 0.001). The agreement rose to 70.69%, k = 0.58 (95% CI 0.41-0.74, p < 0.001) when an optional second opinion of the raters was also considered.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The LBCPG was reliable when used by the same clinician. The strategy of a second opinion could be used to improve the inter-rater reliability in epidemiological studies with large samples.
authors.affiliation: Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Centro Universitário Augusto Motta (UNISUAM), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Electronic address: neymeziat@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Ney
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Meziat-Filho
authors.affiliation: Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Centro Universitário Augusto Motta (UNISUAM), Department of Physical Therapy, Brazilian Naval Academy, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors.forename: Roberta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mendonça
authors.affiliation: Centro Especializado em Coluna e Dor, Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Adriano
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pezolato
authors.affiliation: Instituto Federal do Rio de Janeiro (IFRJ), Department of Clinical Medicine, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors.forename: Felipe J J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Reis
authors.affiliation: Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Centro Universitário Augusto Motta (UNISUAM), Instituto Federal do Rio de Janeiro (IFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors.forename: Leandro Alberto
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Calazans Nogueira
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015588:Observer Variation; D010781:Photography; D011187:Posture; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013121:Spinal Curvatures / Q000175:diagnosis*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Physiotherapy; Posture; Reproducibility; Spine