CORRELATIONS OF ISOKINETIC AND PSYCHOPHYSICAL BACK LIFT AND STATIC BACK EXTENSOR ENDURANCE TESTS IN MEN

lsokinetic lift, psychophysical lift, and static back endurance tests are among the most widely used measurements of muscle function for det ermining risk for, and recovery from, back problems. After determining test repeatability we examined the degree of association between thes e test measures in 100 men selected to represent a variety of occupati ons and lifestyles. Isokinetic lifting had low correlations with test results for psychophysical lifting (r = 0.28) and static back enduranc e (r = 0.24). Static back endurance and psychophysical lift test resul ts were not at all correlated (r = 0.03). Muscle function measurements for back problems are sometimes arbitrarily selected due to health pr actioners' beliefs and preferences or practical reasons such as the av ailability of equipment. Yet little is known about the associations of these tests with one another or with anthropometric factors. The data presented in this study document that isokinetic lift, psychophysical lift, and static back endurance tests appear to measure very differen t aspects of muscle function, and comparing studies using these differ ent test methods should be approached with these low inter-test correl ations in mind.