Development of an Imaging Evaluation System for Low Back Pain

Purpose: To design a low back pain (LBP) imaging evaluation system for non-professional operators, quantifying risk of LBP in patients and asymptomatic individuals. Methods: Twenty-one previously asymptomatic subjects and five LBP patients diagnosed by a physician performed a series of test movements under a fixed camera, including hip abduction test, forward bending test, side bending test, double legs lowering test (DLLT), and modified Thomas test. The video clips were analyzed by a system program interface and were classified into a score from 1 to 4. The average total scores of the two groups were compared. Five intact subjects were retested to verify reliability. Twelve intact subjects and three patients’ clips were viewed by an experienced therapist to verify system validity. Results: The average total scores of two groups were significantly different (p = 0.0004). The results of hip abduction test, forward bending test, side bending test and DLLT showed significant differences between the two groups. The total score of two trials in the retest experiment exhibited a similar result (p = 0.058), with good linear correlation (r = 0.98). The total scores of the evaluations by the experienced therapist and the system program interface agreed with each other (p = 0.141; linear correlation r = 0.90). Conclusion: The evaluation system showed potential utility in screening LBP risk, with acceptable test–retest reliability and expert validity.