Abstract
Low back pain (LBP) can cause balance disturbances, and individuals with LBP have demonstrated poorer balance than those without it. Previous literature has reported that diminished balance is associated with increased injury risk, therefore contributing to an individual's increased re-injury risk and chronicity. The Y-Balance Test (YBT) is a functional and inexpensive tool for measuring dynamic balance and has been used with diverse populations to predict risk for injury. However, there is contradicting evidence about the ability of the YBT to detect dynamic balance deficits in LBP populations, primarily due to heterogeneity of the participants in previous studies. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare dynamic balance between young adults with chronic LBP (CLBP) and a healthy group using the YBT. Fifteen individuals with CLBP (≥ 12 weeks) and 15 gender- and age-matched young, healthy adults completed the study. Each group consisted of 6 males and 9 females who were 21 - 38 years of age (27.46 ± 4.9 years). The YBT was used to measure each participant's dynamic balance in three different reach directions, anterior (ANT), posteromedial (PM) and posterolateral (PL). Both the YBT reach distances and composite scores (CS) collected from the dominant leg of healthy individuals and the involved side of participants with CLBP were used for statistical analysis. The results showed that the reach distances of the CLBP group were significantly shorter than those of the healthy group in the ANT (p = .023), PM (p < .001) and PL (p = .001) directions, and the CS was lower in the CLBP group (p < .001). This study demonstrated that young individuals with CLBP had impaired dynamic balance as compared to young healthy adults. Further, the YBT may be a useful tool for clinicians to asses dynamic balance deficits in patients with CLBP.