Exercise Capacity in NonSpecific Chronic Low Back

Authors: Audy P Hodselmans Pieter U Dijkstra Jan H B Geertzen Cees P van der Schans

Publish Date: 2008/07/15

Volume: 18, Issue: 3, Pages: 282-

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Abstract

Objective Measurement of exercise capacity is essential in patients with nonspecific chronic low back pain CLBP However the conventional Ǻstrand bicycle test is not feasible in patients with a very poor aerobic capacity Therefore the Ǻstrand bicycles test for nonspecific CLBP patients based on lean body mass LBM was developed as an alternative The aim of this study was to evaluate reliability and validity of the LBMbased Ǻstrand test Subjects Twenty patients with nonspecific CLBP and 20 healthy subjects were included for the reliability evaluation and 19 healthy subjects for the validity evaluation Method Patients and healthy subjects were assessed twice Intra class correlation ICC repeatability coefficient RC and the limits of agreement LOA were calculated as a measure of test retests reliability An ICC ≥ 075 was considered acceptable Validity was tested by calculating ICC between the LBMbased Ǻstrand test and a maximal bicycle test Results The LBMbased Ǻstrand test shows good reliability reflected by an ICC ≥ 091 and 95 of the 20 patients could perform the test However differences with the estimated true value reflected by the RC and natural variation reflected by the LOA were substantial in patients Validity was good reflected by ICC ≥ 088 Conclusion The present study shows that the LBMbased Ǻstrand test is a reliable valid and feasible method for patients with nonspecific CLBP However a substantial amount of variation should be taken into account in patients when interpreting the test results clinically

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