ASSESSING LUMBAR STABILIZATION FROM POINT-LIGHT AND NORMAL VIDEO DISPLAYS OF MANUAL LIFTING

Routinely, physical therapists use Visual observation to assess qualit atively a patient's performance. The literature, however, indicates th at assessments of gait and lumbar stabilization from visual observatio n are at best only moderately reliable. Point-light video displays hav e been used to study the visual perception of human motion. The presen t purpose was to examine the reliability of assessments made by a phys ical therapist when viewing point light and normal video displays of s ubjects performing a lifting task. Three physical therapists assessed lumbar stabilization by viewing normal and point-light displays of 25 subjects who lifted an 8-lb. milkcrate from floor to waist height. Gre ater agreement of the therapists' ratings of lumbar stabilization was achieved on assessments made from point-light displays than on those m ade from normal displays. This finding suggests that the use of point- light displays may improve the reliability of qualitative assessments of performance on motor tasks.