A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY COMPARING THE OSWESTRY AND ROLAND-MORRIS FUNCTIONAL DISABILITY SCALES IN 2 POPULATIONS OF PATIENTS WITH LOW-BACK-PAIN OF DIFFERENT LEVELS OF SEVERITY

Study Design. This cross-sectional study compares the Oswestry and Rol and-Morris disability scales in two groups of patients with low back p ain of different clinical and electromyographic severity. Objectives. To evaluate the correlation between functional disability and diagnose s. Summary of Background Data. There is an increasing need for functio nal disability measurements to be applied to the evaluation of therapy and outcome in patients experiencing low back pain. Methods. Two very different groups of patients with low back pain completed the Oswestr y and Roland-Morris self-administrated functional disability questionn aires. One group included patients presenting with an episode of mecha nical low back pain with no clinical radiculopathy. The other group co nsisted of patients with low back pain and clinical and electromyograp hic evidence of radiculopathy. Results. Patients diagnosed with low ba ck pain who exhibited signs of radiculopathy on electromyography had a mean score of 49.1 +/- 17.1 on the Oswestry disability questionnaire; a mean score of 33.0 +/- 14.7 was found for patients who experienced ''simple'' low back sprain (with no radiculopathy). This difference wa s statistically significant (P < 0.0001). On the Roland-Morris questio nnaire, the mean score obtained by the group of patients with radiculo pathy was 59.1 +/- 21.8 compared with 45.4 +/- 19.4 for those with no radiculopathy. This difference was also statistically significant (P < 0.0001). Moreover, there exists a moderate correlation between both f unctional scales within each group of patients: 0.72 (P < 0.0001) in t he group with radiculopathy and 0.66 (P < 0.0001) among those without radiculopathy. Conclusions. The authors conclude that both functional disability scales accurately discriminated between these two groups of patients with low back pain of very different clinical and electromyo graphic severity.