Between-session reliability of skin marker-derived spinal kinematics during functional activities

Background: Skin marker-based analysis of functional spinal movement is a promising method for quantifying
longitudinal effects of treatment interventions in patients with spinal pathologies. However, observed day-to-day
changes might not necessarily be due to a treatment intervention, but can result from errors related to soft tissue
artifacts, marker placement inaccuracies or biological day-to-day variability.
Research question: How reliable are skin marker-derived three-dimensional spinal kinematics during functional
activities between two separate measurement sessions?
Methods: Twenty healthy adults (11 females/9 males) were invited to a movement analysis laboratory for two
visits separated by 7–10 days. At each visit, they performed various functional activities (i.e. sitting, standing,
walking, running, chair rising, box lifting and vertical jumping), while marker trajectories were recorded using a
skin marker-based 10-camera optical motion capture system and used to calculate sagittal and frontal plane
spinal curvature angles as well as transverse plane segmental rotational angles in the lumbar and thoracic regions. Between-session reliability for continuous data and discrete parameters was determined by analyzing
systematic errors using one sample T-tests as well as by calculating intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) and
minimal detectable changes (MDCs).
Results and Significance: The analysis indicated high relative consistency for sagittal plane curvature angles during
all activities, but not for frontal and transverse plane angles during walking and running. MDCs were mostly
below 15◦, with relative values ranging between 10 % and 750 %. This study provides important information
that can serve as a basis for researchers and clinicians aiming at investigating longitudinal effects of treatment
interventions on spinal motion behavior in patients with spinal pathologies.