Author(s): Rouse Barker, Victoria Ghanma, Joseph Hahn, Hana Khan, Kayleigh Newman, Arasta Wahab
Mentor(s): Joel Martin, Marcie Fyock-Martin; Kinesiology
AbstractLaw enforcement officers (LEO) work in demanding jobs and are at high risk for developing injuries. Approximately 67.7% surveyed reported experiencing lower back pain (LBP) at some point during the past year. Duty belts, patrol cars, and load carriage all contribute to LBP in LEO. LBP has been demonstrated to limit mobility, which decreases Functional Movement Screen (FMS) score.PURPOSE: To test whether LEO who receive “at risk for injury” scores on the FMS (score <14), report greater lower back pain according to the Oswestry Low Back Pain Questionnaire (OLBPQ). METHODS: 6 male police officers with LBP, completed the OLBPQ. Officers were then evaluated on performance of the FMS. LEO were separated into two groups, those scoring below and above FMS composite score of 14, FMS-Low and FMS-High, respectively. Independent t-tests and correlation tests were conducted. (r=0.22, p=0.68, Alpha = 0.05) RESULTS: There was no significant difference in OLBPQ between the groups (p=0.74, D=0.28) nor significant differences in FMS scores, except for active straight leg raise. No significant correlations existed between OLBPQ score and FMS (r=0.22, p= 0.68). CONCLUSIONS: The research findings suggested that FMS scores were not indicative of severity of LBP. Mobility didn't appear to change with increased LBP. This indicates that an FMS score of 14 may not be the proper cut off point for determining disability for LEO with a history of LBP. Based on these results, it appears that LBP might be caused by different factors for different people and that mobility is not necessarily indicative of pain intensity. These results were contrary to the expected outcome. One limitation of this study was the small sample size of 6 participants. Future research should be conducted to test if other mobility tests, such as the Y-Balance test, correspond with LBP in LEO.[/expand] [expand title="Audio Transcript"]Hello everyone. My name is Kayleigh Newman and this summer I had the opportunity to work with Dr. Joel Martin, Dr. Marcie Fyock, Megan Sax Van Der Weyden, Mike Toczko and other fellow undergrad student interns. With our OSCAR grant, we worked with two groups, law enforcement officers with backpain and firefighters without back pain. I spent most of time this summer working on the law enforcement officers project. For this study, we were interested to know if there was a correlation between mobility and lower back pain felt by law enforcement officers. Before starting the study, we recognized that lower back pain is more common in police officers and we realized this is due to many factors, including the duty belts these officers wear and how much time they spend driving in patrol cars. Lower back pain often limits mobility, so we wanted to see if this was the case in law enforcement officers as well. Our participants first filled out the Oswestry lower back pain questionnaire which asked them to be very specific about the prevalence and intensity of their lower back pain. We used the FMS, or functional movement screen, to test the mobility of 6 male police officers. The FMS uses 7 different tests to evaluate someone's movement ability, the deep squat, inline lunge, hurtle step, shoulder mobility, straight leg raise, trunk stability push up, and the rotary stability exercise. You can achieve a max score of 21 on the FMS. However, in research, a score of 14 or lower is widely regarded to be the cut off point for being at risk for injury. 3 of the six participants scored below 14 and the other 3 participants scored above 14. These groups were called the FMS-low and the FMS-high groups respectively. Statistical analysis was conducted which provided us with further data to interpret. To our surprise, the results showed that there was no significant differences in the LBP scores between the two groups and that there were no significant correlations between the Oswestry lower back pain score and the FMS. This means that despite what we anticipated, lower back pain did not appear to impact mobility, according to this study. Finally, the results also showed that there were no significant differences in the individual tests on the FMS between the two groups except for one test. The FMS-high group scored significantly higher (meaning they had better mobility) in the active straight leg raise than the FMS-low group. This is an interesting finding because the active straight leg raise tests for hamstring abnormalities and hip problems, which are both risk factors of lower back pain. So, even though the groups were not different in terms of their overall FMS scores or Oswestry lower back pain scores, they were different in terms of the straight leg raise. Overall, the findings suggested that the FMS may not able to indicate lower back pain severity, as mobility didn't change with increased lower back pain. It's quite possible too that an FMS score of 14 is not an accurate cut off point for these types of participants. However, this study did have a limitation in terms of only having 6 participants so far. It is an ongoing study and more participants will be included later, so it may be best to reinterpret the data later once more has been collected. One suggestion for future research is to explore how other mobility tests, such as the Y-Balance test, corresponds with lower back pain in police officers. As I wrap up, I want to thank all of our participants throughout this study who made our research possible as well as all those who worked behind the scenes. I want to than the OSCAR organization, Dr. Martin and Dr. Fyock as well as the grad students, Mike and Megan, who guided us on a daily basis this summer. It has been a great experience working with everyone and learning how to review literature, test subjects, use lab equipment, interpret data, and present data. I look forward to continuing my work on this project and seeing how far we can take it. Thanks again to everyone.[/expand]