Abstract

Back pain affects between 58% and 84% of people at some time in their lives, which makes it the most important health problem in industrialized countries. According to a report published in 2008 by the CSST, back pain represents close to 30% of all compensated occupational injuries. The lumbar region was affected in 60% of cases of spinal disorders between 2004 and 2007. It is therefore vital to develop valid and reliable measurement tools that quantify the presence of deficiencies or incapacities related to these pathologies as well as effective methods of treatment in order to promote a return to work.

This research project aims to implement and evaluate three measures related to muscle control of lumbar stability, to refine the evaluation protocol in order to adjust the parameters of the tests, and to collect preliminary data for future research. At the end of the work, the researchers will have established an achievable evaluation protocol in terms of difficulty of the tasks and tolerance by the target clients, while offering valid and reproducible measurements. The action mechanisms applied by different exercise programs that will be identified by these measures will be the subject of future work.