Smartest Doc
Physical and Psychosocial Predictors of Functional Trunk Capacity in Older Adults With and Without Low Back Pain
Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, 06/26/2012
Clinical Article
Ledoux E et al. – Patients showed diminished functional capacity compared with healthy participants. Moreover, physical activity levels represent the most important predictors of functional capacity in elderly patients with low back pain.
Methods- The study was done in Canada and included 61 community–dwelling elderly individuals (29 patients with nonspecific chronic LBP and 32 healthy participants) who performed maximal trunk endurance and force tasks.
- Participants completed various psychologic and functional questionnaires.
- Sequential linear regression analyses were performed with functional capacity results (endurance and force) as dependent variables and questionnaire scores as independent variables.
- Endurance time and peak force were significantly lower in patients compared with healthy elderly individuals (all P values < .001), whereas pain–related fear of movement, pain catastrophizing, and depression levels were higher in patients than their healthy counterpart (all P values < .001).
- After adjusting for physical activity and disability levels (R2 = 33.7%–50.5% in patients; R2 = 0.1%–5.7% in healthy individuals), none of the psychologic questionnaire could explain variations observed in functional capacity in patients (R2 changes, 4.8%–6.7%) and in healthy participants (R2 changes, 5.2%–10.6%).