Motor and postural control in patients with chronic non-specific low back pain: a blinded, prospective, and controlled cross-sectional study

Abstract Background Motor and postural control dysfunctions are hypothesized to be important for the development and clinical course of chronic, non-specific low back pain (cLBP).Objective To compare the motor and postural control deficiencies (MPCD) between patients with cLBP and healthy controls.Methods Blinded, cross-sectional control study using clinical tests examining motor and postural control between patients and healthy controls.Results We compared the motor and postural control of 46 cLBP patients and 36 healthy controls. Patients with cLBP had significantly more positive pathological tests for movement control (one-leg stance, hip extension, and breathing pattern). No significant differences were observed between groups for tests examining postural control. Patients with cLBP had significantly more trigger points in muscles relevant to postural control.Conclusions Although we found that, in general, cLBP patients have poorer motor and postural control relative to healthy subjects, not all patients showed poor motor and postural control. Therefore, MPCD might only be relevant for a subgroup of patients with cLBP. Targeted diagnostic and treatment settings as well as preventive interventions for this subgroup should be the aim of further studies.