Back pain and trunk list.

An association of trunk list with back pain was recorded in 100 patients, 5.6% of those attending a back pain clinic. Twice as many patients listed to the left as to the right. A total of 49 patients fulfilled the criterion of a symptomatic lumbar disc lesion, and 20 required surgical excision of the disc. The side of the list was not related to the side of the sciatica nor to the topographic position of the disc in relation to the nerve root. There is some evidence that the side of the list may be related to hand or leg dominance.