Low back pain was associated with differences in ankle sensing and balance
Adults with nonspecific low back pain showed poorer ankle proprioception and greater reliance on ankle strategies during balance assessments. The review rated the evidence as very uncertain.
Based on the published abstract. The full paper may contain additional methods, results and limitations.
The 30-second takeaway
The pooled results linked nonspecific low back pain with poorer ankle proprioception and greater reliance on ankle strategies for balance on stable and unstable surfaces. However, evidence certainty was very low. These comparisons describe differences between groups; they do not establish whether the ankle and balance differences cause pain or develop alongside it.
The authors attributed very low evidence certainty to study design and variation between studies. The abstract supplies no confidence intervals for the pooled differences, limiting assessment of their precision. This brief is based on the abstract.
How balance strategies were assessed
The review assessed balance strategies using relative proprioception weighting. Higher values represented greater reliance on the ankles, while lower values represented greater reliance on the hips. This measurement describes how balance control was distributed.
Why confidence remains limited
The review evaluated study quality and evidence certainty separately. Despite favorable quality scores for many included studies, the pooled outcomes received a very low certainty rating because of study design and differences across the research.
The original publication
Lower limb proprioception and postural control strategies in people with non-specific low back pain: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Chen Z, Shi X, Tirosh O et al.
Clin Rehabil · 2025
- PubMed ID
- 40765243
- Record checked
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