Background: The lumbar range of motion has traditionally been used to assess\r\ndisability in patients with low back disorders. Controversy exists about how\r\nmovement ranges in static positions or in a single straight plane is related to the\r\nfunctional status of the patients. The trunk circumduction, as the result of\r\nneuromuscular coordination, is the integrated movements from three dimensions.\r\nThe functional workspace stands for the volume of movement configuration from\r\nthe trunk circumduction and represents all possible positions in three dimensions. By\r\nusing single quantitative value, the functional workspace substitutes the complicated\r\njoint linear or angular motions. The aim of this study is to develop the functional\r\nworkspace of the trunk circumduction (FWTC) considering possible functional\r\npositions in three dimensional planes. The reliability of the trunk circumduction is\r\nexamined.\r\nMethods: Test-retest reliability was performed with 18 healthy young subjects. A\r\nthree-dimensional (3-D) Motion Analysis System was used to record the trunk\r\ncircumduction. The FWTC was defined and calculated based on the volume of the\r\ncone that was formed as the resultant scanned area of markers, multiplied by the\r\nlength of the body segment. The statistical analysis of correlation was performed to\r\ndescribe the relation of maximal displacements of trunk circumduction and straight\r\nplanes: sagittal and coronal.\r\nResults: The results of this study indicate that the movement of trunk circumduction\r\nmeasured by motion analysis instruments is a reliable tool. The ICC value is 0.90-0.96,\r\nand the means and standard deviations of the normalized workspace are: C7 0.425\r\n(0.1162); L1 0.843 (0.2965); and knee 0.014 (0.0106). Little correlations between the\r\nmaximal displacement of trunk circumduction and that of straight planes are shown\r\nand therefore suggest different movement patterns exist.\r\nConclusions: This study demonstrates high statistical reliability for the FWTC, which\r\nis important for the potential development as the functional assessment technique.\r\nThe FWTC provides a single integrated value to represent angular and linear\r\nmeasurements of different joints and planes. Future study is expected to carry out\r\nthe FWTC to evaluate the amount of workspace for the functional status of patients\r\nwith low back injuries or patients with spinal surgery.
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