Designing a New Method for Measuring Lumbar Lordosis

Given that the lumbar region is an area of great importance in the spinal cord, and any deviation in its curvature and surrounding soft tissues is one of the major causes of back pain; therefore, existence of a valid and reliable index to record these changes is of great importance before any treatment interventions. This study was conducted with the objective of designing and introducing a new clinical method with appropriate validity and reliability for therapists’ use. This study was performed as a descriptive-correlation study on 36 subjects [28 (77.7%) females and 8 (22.3%) males] aged 16-84 years, with the mean age of 42±14.9 years. The lumbosacral lordosis was measured using a flexible ruler and compared manually and by computer, and the obtained angle was compared manually and by computer. The obtained angle, as a new method, was compared with sacral inclination angle on the X-ray radiography image of the same patient. Then, Data were analyzed with Pearson correlation test. The correlation coefficient (r) between the computer method and radiography and manual method were obtained 0.99 and 0.68, respectively, and between the manual calculation method and radiography was 0.70, which was significant for all (p=0.001). The correlation between inter-therapist and intra-therapist were high and significant in the manual calculation. The method suggested in this study can be a valid and accurate method for measuring lumbar lordosis, because of reducing time, cost, and risks of exposure to X-ray.