Gait analysis of individuals with specific low back pain undergoing surgery: case series report with one and six-month follow-up

ABSTRACT

Introduction

In addition to pain, specific low back pain is frequently accompanied by restricted range of motion (ROM) during gait.

Purpose

To compare the behavior of kinematic and spatiotemporal gait parameters, pain, functional status, and self-efficacy, in patients with a diagnosis of herniated disk or lumbar stenosis undergoing surgery, in the pre- and postoperative periods of 1 and 6 months (PO6).

Methods

Seven participants and 11 control subjects were assessed. A kinematics system comprising 10 optoelectronic cameras was used to assess gait. The Roland-Morris questionnaire, pain intensity, and self-efficacy, over three periods, were used.

Results

The ROM of the pelvis, hip, and knee of the hernia group presented an increase after surgery and the stenosis group presented a reduction of values in the hip. During the stance phase, the pelvis and hip ROM of both groups remained smaller than the control group. There was improvement in pain in individuals with hernia and stenosis (effect size = 0.6 and 0.8, respectively) in the three analyzed moments; for functional status there was improvement in the first postoperative period (ES = 0.4) compared to the preoperative in those individuals with hernia; and those with stenosis had improvement at PO6 when compared to the time before the surgery (ES = 0.2).

Conclusion

Surgical intervention modifies the spatiotemporal parameters, the ROM of the pelvis, hip, and knee in the total gait cycle, primarily in the sagittal plane, and causes alterations, particularly in the hip joint, in these individuals during the support phase.

KEYWORDS:

• Gait analysis
• lumbar disc herniation
• postoperative period
• low back pain
• physical function

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the CNPq/Araucaria Foundation and CAPES for the productivity/scientific initiation and doctoral grants, respectively (Funding Code: 001). Also, thank the Orthopedic Surgeons who referred the patients for evaluation.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico [CNPq # 4/2021, Scientific Initiation Scholarship]; Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior [Funding Code: 001]; Fundação Araucária [Scientific Initiation Scholarship].