Accuracy and Reliability of The Spine-Pelvis Monitor to Record Three-Dimensional Characteristics of The Spine-Pelvic Motion

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study is to evaluate the accuracy and reliability of Spine-Pelvis Monitor(SPM) that was developed to measure 3-dimensional motion of spine and pelvis using tilt sensor and gyro sensor. Background: The main cause of low back pain is very much associated with the task using the low back and pelvis, but no measurement technique can quantify the both spine and pelvis. Method: For testing the SPM, 125 angles from three anatomical planes were measured three times in order to evaluate the accuracy and reliability. The accuracy of SPM in measuring dynamic motion was evaluated using digital motion analysis system. The motion pattern captured by two measuring methods was compared with each other. In result, the percentage error and Cronbach coefficient alpha were calculated to evaluate the accuracy and reliability.

Results: The percentage error was 0.35% in flexion-extension on sagittal plane, 0.43% in lateral bending on coronal plane,and 0.40% in twisting on transverse plane. The Cronbach coefficient alpha was 1.00, 0.99 and 0.99 in sagittal, coronal and transvers plane, respectively. Conclusion: The SPM showed less than 1% error for static measurement, and showed reasonably similar pattern with the digital motion system. Application: The results of this study showed that the SPM can be the measuring method of spine pelvis motion that enhances the kinematic analysis of low back dynamics.