Interexaminer reliability of lumbar segmental mobility tests

The purpose of this study was to investigate the interexaminer reliability of segmental mobility tests for the lumbar flexion and extension movement. Available reliability studies are rare and investigate total segmental mobility through several tests, making the understanding of the effect of each test more difficult. There is also a risk of creating a test situation that has less resemblance to the work situation of physiotherapists if two physiotherapists who have trained and coordinated their manual techniques together in advance are studied. Three physiotherapists with step 2 of the Swedish orthopaedic manual therapy education (OMT) performed one segmental mobility test for lumbar flexion and one for lumbar extension on twenty subjects. They were not permitted to obtain additional information, apart from a standing inspection without movements. The physiotherapists had not worked together, nor did they have a chance to coordinate their manual techniques prior to the examinations. The results showed no interexaminer reliability and suggest that future research is essential if a conclusion about lumbar intersegmental mobility tests is to be reached.