Association between pain and gait instability in patients with lumbar disc herniation

Abstract

Objective To determine whether pain is associated with gait instability in patients with lumbar disc herniation (LDH). Methods This retrospective cross-sectional study used data from electronic medical records. Among patients with lumbar back pain caused by LDH between January 2017 and July 2019, patients that underwent gait analysis were included. LDH was diagnosed using magnetic resonance imaging. An OptoGait photoelectric cell system was used for gait evaluation. Instability was measured using a gait symmetry index. Multivariate linear regression analysis was performed to determine the association between lumbar pain and gait instability. Results A total of 29 patients (12 females [41.4%] and 17 males [58.6%]; mean ± SD age, 40.6 ± 12.0 years) with LDH were enrolled in the study. With each 1-point increase in lumbar pain on the numeric rating scale, the symmetry index of the stance phase (0.33; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.04, 0.62), swing phase (0.78; 95% CI 0.14, 1.43) and single support (0.79; 95% CI 0.15, 1.43) increased. Conclusions Gait instability in patients with LDH may occur due to an increase in pain.

Back morphology and walking patterns mean 13.8 years after surgery for lumbar disk herniation in adolescents

“…It has previously been reported that individuals with untreated LDH have a different gait compared with healthy controls. 4,20 However, the long-term effects of surgery on gait…”

“…5 If any tissues or joints involved in gait are injured, eg, in LDH, movement efficiency can be expected to decrease as a result of the disturbance of these complex mechanisms. 20 Microsoft Kinect is a depth camera technology, which tracks human gait by estimation of skeletal joint locations. 7 Kinect is clinically useful to identify gait abnormalities and postural disorders, as well as for tracking progress within patient rehabilitation.…”

Clinical Effect of Minimally Invasive Microendoscopic‐Assisted Transforaminal Lumbar Interbody Fusion for Single‐Level Lumbar Disc Herniation

“…Lumbar disc herniation (LDH) with lumbar instability is a common cause of low back pain, radiculopathy, and/or neurogenic claudication 1,2 . Patients with LDH prefer to choose surgical decompression of the neural elements and stabilize spinal fusion after invalid non‐operative treatment 3,4 .…”

“…Lumbar disc herniation (LDH) with lumbar instability is a common cause of low back pain, radiculopathy, and/or neurogenic claudication. 1 , 2 Patients with LDH prefer to choose surgical decompression of the neural elements and stabilize spinal fusion after invalid non‐operative treatment. 3 , 4 Currently, transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF) and posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF) are two widely used types of surgery for LDH therapy.…”

Differences between Systems Using Optical and Capacitive Sensors in Treadmill-Based Spatiotemporal Analysis of Level and Sloping Gait

“…The great length of the walking path and the size of the working area required for over-ground walking, as well as the inability to reproduce the gait conditions are some of the limitations of the system. However, many of the above limitations are eventually canceled out by placing a pair of bars on the sides of a standard treadmill [ 4 , 5 , 6 ]. In this case, the gait analysis can be performed under the standardized conditions that a treadmill can offer (e.g., predetermined and controlled speed, slope, number of steps, etc.)…”