Postural Balance Parameters as Objective Surgical Assessments in Low Back Disorders: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Balance assessments could render useful objective performance measures to evaluate the efficacy of low back surgeries, yet these assessments have not been collectively examined to determine longitudinal sensitivity across surgical interventions. The purpose of this review was to determine sensitivity of balance measurements for disparate spinal disorders after surgical intervention. We searched PubMed, Embase, Scopus, the Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and CINAHL. Articles were selected based on: (1) sample consisted of low back disorder individuals and (2) balance measurements were obtained both pre- and postsurgery. Most of the articles addressed 2 specific low back disorders: (1) adolescent idiopathic scoliosis/spinal fusion and (2) disc herniation/decompression surgery. For scoliosis patients, body sway increased (14-97%) immediately following surgery but gradually reduced (1-33%) approaching the 1-year post spinal fusion assessment. For patients with disc herniation, sway range, sway velocity, sway area, and sway variability all decreased (19-42%) immediately postsurgery. Balance assessments for adolescents with idiopathic scoliosis who underwent surgical intervention should be performed with visual occlusion, focus on time domain parameters, and evaluated with longer follow-up times. Patients with disc herniation who underwent decompression surgery should have balance assessments with visual deprivation, test conditions specifically addressing hip strategy, and correlation with pain.

The Effects of Leg Preference on Transient Characteristics of Body Sway During Single-Leg Stance: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…The examination of quiet-stance postural control by assessing body sway characteristics during quiet standing is routinely used in research and practice in several fields related to human health and human movement ( Piirtola and Era, 2006 ; Ku et al, 2014 ; Yen et al, 2016 ; Roman-Liu, 2018 ; Kozinc et al, 2020 ). For instance, variables related to center of pressure (CoP) movement may be used to determine the risk of falling in older adults ( Piirtola and Era, 2006 ; Kozinc et al, 2020 ) and to assess balance deficits in Parkinson’s disease patients ( Gera et al, 2016 ; Feller et al, 2019 ).…”

The Effect of Pain Relief on Daily Physical Activity: In-Home Objective Physical Activity Assessment in Chronic Low Back Pain Patients after Paravertebral Spinal Block

“…LBP manifests in altered movement patterns when walking or changing positions, and may interfere with both activities of daily living and work-related functions [ 31 , 32 ]. Along with in-clinic measures of function that have been extensively studied for LBP treatments [ 33 , 34 ], measures of daily activities can be utilized to objectively evaluate disability due to pain. We previously showed that fluoroscopy guided PSI for LBP improved in-clinic motor performance, which could last between one to three months [ 13 ].…”

The Effect of Pain Relief on Daily Physical Activity: in-Home Objective Physical Activity Assessment in Chronic Low Back Pain Patients after Paravertebral Spinal Block

“…LBP manifests in altered movement patterns when walking or changing positions, and may interfere with both activities of daily living and work related functions [30,31]. Along with inclinic measures of function that have been extensively studied for LBP treatments [32,33], measures of daily activities can be utilized to objectively evaluate disability due to pain. We previously showed that fluoroscopy guided PSI for LBP improves in-clinic motor performance, which can last between one to three months [13].…”