A clinical prediction rule for classifying patients with low back pain who demonstrate short term improvement with mechanical lumbar traction
From: Eur Spine J. 2009 Mar 3. [Epub ahead of print]
The objective of the study was to develop a clinical prediction rule for identifying patients with low back pain, who improved with mechanical lumbar traction. A prospective, cohort study was conducted in a physiotherapy clinic at a local hospital. Patients with low back pain, referred to physiotherapy were included in the study. The intervention was a standardized mechanical lumbar traction program, which comprised three sessions provided within 9 days. Patient demographic information, standard physical examination, numeric pain scale, fear avoidance beliefs questionnaire and Oswestry low back pain disability index (pre and post intervention) were recorded. A total of 129 patients participated in the study and 25 had positive response to the mechanical lumbar traction. A clinical prediction rule with four variables (non involvement of manual work, low level fear avoidance beliefs, no neurological deficit and age above 30 years) was identified. The presence of all four variables increased the probability of response rate with mechanical lumbar traction from 19.4 to 69.2%. It appears that patients with low back pain who were likely to respond to mechanical lumbar traction may be identified.
