02358nas a2200205   4500000000100000008004100001260001700042100001800059700001600077700001400093700001300107700001400120700002100134245010800155250001500263300001000278490000700288520181100295020004602106       2011                            d  c2294782354591 aFranco Marcia1 aFerreira P.1 aHodges P.1 aPinto R.1 aFranco H.1 aFerreira Manuela00aReliability and discriminatory capacity of a clinical scale for assessing abdominal muscle coordination  a2011/09/20  a562-90 v343 a<p>
OBJECTIVE: This study evaluated the reliability and discriminatory capacity of a novel clinical scale for assessing abdominal muscle coordination. We investigated the interrater reliability of this tool in patients with chronic low back pain (LBP) (reliability section); the ability of this tool to discriminate healthy and LBP subjects (discriminatory section); and the association between the score and measures of pain, disability, and kinesiophobia (correlation section). METHODS: For the reliability section of this study, 14 patients with chronic LBP were included. For the discriminatory section, 10 patients with chronic LBP and 10 pain-free controls were recruited. In the correlation study, data from the 10 chronic LBP patients in the discriminatory section were used. The clinical test was conducted by a blinded examiner while the subjects attempted to independently activate transversus abdominis separate from the rest of the abdominal muscles (hollowing or draw-in maneuver). The intraclass correlation coefficients, receiver operating characteristic curve, and Pearson r correlation coefficients were calculated to assess reliability and validity. RESULTS: An intraclass correlation coefficient((2,1)) of 0.72 (95% confidence interval, 0.33-0.90) was recorded for interrater reliability. The tool correctly identified the subject condition in 97% of the cases. The score did not correlate substantially with any clinical measures, with Pearson r ranging from 0.122 (P = .737) to 0.493 (P = .148). CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that the proposed scale is a reliable tool and may be useful in discriminating patients with chronic LBP from pain-free controls. The poor correlation between the score and clinical measures may be due to the multidimensional nature of chronic LBP.
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