Isostation B-200 triaxial lumbar dynamometer as an instrument to evaluate rehabilitation outcome in patients with chronic low back pain

The present study is designed to evaluate if measurements with IB-200 can reveal the rehabilitation outcome in patients with chronic low back pain. For that purpose, the effectiveness and impact of rehabilitation in men and women was compared in terms of changes in IB-200 performance from baseline to follow-up in 2 types of rehabilitation programs, i.e. the physically strenuous Functioning Activation, and the less strenuous Spa Resort program. The results showed IB-200 measurements to be effective in revealing the progress of rehabilitation by changes in IB-200 performance of men and women in the Functioning Activation Program, and of women in the Spa Resort Program from baseline to 12-month follow-up. The longitudinal construct validity of these changes was documented. The usefulness of IB-200 measurements for the evaluation of programs was further supported by the fact that IB-200 measurements detected the a priori known differences in the outcome of different rehabilitation programs, and moreover revealed that different types of patients benefited in different ways from rehabilitation.