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BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders
Published in: BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders 1/2016

Open Access 01-12-2016 | Research article

Intra-session absolute and relative reliability of pressure pain thresholds in the low back region of vine-workers: effect of the number of trials

Authors: Romain Balaguier, Pascal Madeleine, Nicolas Vuillerme

Published in: BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders | Issue 1/2016

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Abstract

Background

Pressure pain thresholds (PPT) are commonly used to quantify mechanical pain sensitivity of deep structures. Excellent PPT reliability has been previously reported among the low back of healthy subjects. However, there is a lack of studies assessing PPT over the low back of workers exposed to biomechanical risk factors of low back pain. Thus, the purpose of this study was threefold: (1) to evaluate the intra-session absolute and relative reliability as well as minimal detectable change (MDC) values of PPT within 14 locations covering the low back region of vine-workers and (2) to determine the number of trial required to ensure reliable PPT assessments and (3) to assess the effect of modifier factors such as gender, age, body mass index (BMI) and pain intensity on PPT reliability.

Methods

Twenty-nine vine-workers voluntarily participated in this study. Twenty-two reported low intensity of low-back pain while seven were pain-free. PPTs were assessed among 14 anatomical locations in the lower back region. Three trials were performed on each location with an interval time of at least one minute. Reliability was assessed computing intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC), standard error of measurement (SEM) for all possible combinations between trials. Bland-Altman plots were also generated to assess potential bias in the dataset. Finally, a repeated measure analysis of variance (RM-ANOVA) with the number of trials used as within subject factor was performed on (1) PPT, (2) ICC and (3) SEM values.

Results

ICC ranged from 0.86 to 0.99 for all anatomical locations and for all possible combinations between trials. SEM for comparison between trial 1–2, 2–3, 1–3 and, 1-2-3 ranged from respectively, 36.7–77.5, 27.8–77.7, 50–95.2 and, 39.3–80.8 kPa. ICC and SEM remained similar to the ones obtained for the entire population when taking modifier factors in consideration. The visual analysis of Bland-Altman plots suggested small measurement errors for all anatomical locations and for all possible combinations between trials.

Conclusions

The assessment of PPTs of the lower back among vine-workers was found to have excellent relative and absolute reliability. Moreover, reliable measurements can be equally achieved when using the mean of three PPT measurement or with the first one.
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Metadata
Title
Intra-session absolute and relative reliability of pressure pain thresholds in the low back region of vine-workers: effect of the number of trials
Authors
Romain Balaguier
Pascal Madeleine
Nicolas Vuillerme
Publication date
01-12-2016
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders / Issue 1/2016
Electronic ISSN: 1471-2474
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12891-016-1212-7

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