Reliability of two functional clinical tests to evaluate trunk and lumbopelvic neuromuscular control and proprioception in a healthy population.

OBJECTIVES: The need to accurately assess trunk and lumbopelvic proprioception and neuromuscular control is widely accepted. However, based on current literature, there is a lack of reliable clinical tests to evaluate these aspects in clinical practice. The objective of this study is to investigate intra- and inter-tester reliability of the lateral step down test and the lumbopelvic position-reposition test in a healthy population.
METHODS: Protocol and scoring methods were developed for the lateral step down test and lumbopelvic position-reposition test, used to assess trunk and lumbopelvic neuromuscular control and proprioception respectively. Each test was performed once by thirty participants and video analysis for test scoring was performed. Three items on the lateral step down test were scored to evaluate neuromuscular control and, four items on the lumbopelvic position-reposition test were scored to evaluate proprioception. Aggregate scores for each test were calculated based on the separate item scores. Intraclass correlation coefficients and linear weighted kappa coefficients were determined for intra- and inter-tester reliability.
RESULTS: Based on the aggregate score, excellent intra- and inter-tester reliability (ICC (2,1)=0.73-0.88) was found for both tests. Moderate/almost perfect intra-and inter-tester agreement (K=0.62-0.91) was found for the separate items of the lateral step down test and fair/substantial agreement (K=0.25-0.76) for the items of the lumbopelvic position-reposition test.
CONCLUSION: Current testing protocol and scoring method for the lateral step down test is reliable. Adjustments for the scoring method of the lumbopelvic position-reposition test are warranted to improve reliability.