Inter-rater reliability of three-dimensional pain provocation tests for determining painful lumbar zygapophyseal joints. A pilot study

Inter-rater reliability of three-dimensional pain provocation tests for determining painful lumbar zygapophyseal joints. A pilot study - ZAJ

Status

Active, not recruiting

Phases

Unknown

Study type

Interventional

Source

DRKS

Registry ID

DRKS00012986

Enrollment

Registered

2017-09-22

Start date

2015-06-22

Completion date

Unknown

Last updated

2025-04-07

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

M53 M54

Interventions

Group 1: The objective of this pilot study was to evaluate inter-rater reliability of new clinical pain provocation tests for diagnosing painful lumbar zygapophyseal joints. These new tests were carri

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

All

Age

50 Years to 90 Years

Inclusion criteria

Inclusion criteria: Patients with current LBP, with or without buttock or lower extremity symptoms; Female and male patients; Fluency in German to be able to follow verbal instructions; Signed informed consent was required before testing started; Preferably, patients had to be 50 years or older in order to be included in this study. The upper age limit was 90 years.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion criteria: Central nervous system diseases (e.g., Mb. Parkinson). Each patient had undergone imaging studies prior to hospital admission and independent of the present study. Imaging results served as a basis for excluding patients who showed signs of ‘red flags’ in the lumbosacral region (e.g., fractures, tumors, sacroiliitis, discitis); discectomy within the past 12 months; surgical spinal fusion at any level of the lumbar spine; radiculopathy and/or radicular pain; interventional treatments for the IVD, SIJs or ZAJs within the past three months; psychiatric disorders that affect formal thinking (e.g., psychosis); current litigation issues concerning back pain; unwillingness to participate

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame
Primary endpoint: Inter-rater reliability of the applied tests. Data were acquired using a case report form (CRF). Each tester had to complete a CRF for each test and for each patient. Completion of CRFs was independently performed by each tester. After data collection inter-rater reliability was calculated using SPSS (Version 23, IBM Corp., Armonk, N.Y., USA). Fleiss´ kappa and percent agreement values were obtained for three testers and for all tests.	—

Measure

Time frame

Primary endpoint: Inter-rater reliability of the applied tests. Data were acquired using a case report form (CRF). Each tester had to complete a CRF for each test and for each patient. Completion of CRFs was independently performed by each tester. After data collection inter-rater reliability was calculated using SPSS (Version 23, IBM Corp., Armonk, N.Y., USA). Fleiss´ kappa and percent agreement values were obtained for three testers and for all tests.

—

Secondary

Measure	Time frame
1. Feasibility of the study, especially with respect to a larger subsequent study. Feasibility will be judged by a qualitative analysis of the procedure. 2. Acceptability of the study by patients will be judged by counting and analyzing the total number of drop outs and by the occurrence of adverse events. 3. Data on the localization of patient´s symptoms were recorded by one of the principal investigators of this study on a standardized data sheet. Data was collected prior to the first testing. 4. Data on the temporal behavior of symptoms were recorded by one of the principal investigators of this study on a standardized data sheet. Data was collected prior to the first testing. 5. Data on the actual intensity of pain were recorded by one of the principal investigators of this study on a standardized data sheet. Data was collected prior to the first testing.	—

Measure

Time frame

1. Feasibility of the study, especially with respect to a larger subsequent study. Feasibility will be judged by a qualitative analysis of the procedure. 2. Acceptability of the study by patients will be judged by counting and analyzing the total number of drop outs and by the occurrence of adverse events. 3. Data on the localization of patient´s symptoms were recorded by one of the principal investigators of this study on a standardized data sheet. Data was collected prior to the first testing. 4. Data on the temporal behavior of symptoms were recorded by one of the principal investigators of this study on a standardized data sheet. Data was collected prior to the first testing. 5. Data on the actual intensity of pain were recorded by one of the principal investigators of this study on a standardized data sheet. Data was collected prior to the first testing.

—

Countries

Austria

Contacts

Public ContactChristoph Thalhamer

Orthopädisches Spital Speising

christoph.thalhamer@oss.at+43 1 801 82 1744

Outcome results

None listed

Source: DRKS (via WHO ICTRP) · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026