ABSTRACT
AIM: The purpose of this study was to validate an evaluation test of the gesture behaviour for patients with chronic low back pain. METHOD: Forty-four patients (19 females and 25 males) (45.7 +/- 10.8 years) with chronic low back pain (delay of pain: 9.8 +/- 9.0 years) took part in an educational back school program. They performed 3 tests at the beginning (pre-test), at the end (post-test) and three months after the back school program (control): a visual analogic scale, the Dallas questionnaire and a gesture evaluation test that is composed of three tasks for the pre-test and five tasks for the post-test and the control session. RESULTS: Our gesture test was reproducible and sensible. The mean gesture result increased significantly after the back school program (39.6 +/- 23.2 % in the pre-test and 73.4 +/- 12.5 % in the post-test, p < 0.05) and was stabilized at this high level (69 +/- 18.8 %) for the control session. The patients demonstrated abilities to transfer an appropriate gesture behaviour to new tasks. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: This study validated a gesture behaviour test for the patient with chronic low back pain. The use of this test during a back school program demonstrated an immediate and long lasting effect on the appropriate gesture behaviour. However the algo-functional status was increased more belatedly and more modestly.
