The six minute walk test for patients with lumbar spinal stenosis

1. INTRODUCTION
Impairment of ambulation is a crucial component of some impairments for lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS). The 6-minute walk
test (6MWT) has been validated as a laboratory walking test and is increasingly recognized as a meaningful outcome
measure in patients with peripheral arterial disease. However, the 6MWT has not been validated for the patients with LSS. In
this study, we evaluated the criterion-related validity of 6MWT by examining a correlation with a self-report questionnaire.
METHODS
Subjects following rehabilitation after the surgery of LSS (Sex: male/female 28/47, Age: 71±8 y.o) completed Zurich
Claudication Questionnaire (ZCQ) and performed the 6MWT before the surgery and three months after the surgery.
Correlation with ZCQ subscales (symptom severity and physical function was examined to evaluate the criterion-related
validity of the 6MWT.
RESULTS
There were significant improvements in ZCQ score (p<0.001) and parameters (distance and walk speed) of the 6MWT
(p<0.001) after the surgery(Figure 1). In before and after the surgery, the parameters of the 6MWT correlated weakly with the
symptom severity scale and with the physical function scale(Table 1).
CONCLUSION
It was reported ZCQ has the validity and the reliability for the evaluation of the patients with LSS. In this study, there were
weak correlation between ZCQ subscales and the parameters of the 6MWT both before and after the surgery. Therefore,
6MWT has the certain criterion-related validity in the walking ability evaluation of patients with LSS. Furthermore, the 6MWT
may evaluate different walking performance from physical function scale of ZCQ.
REFERENCE
•Konno S(2007)Development of a clinical diagnosis support tool to identify patients with lumbar spinal stenosis.Eur Spine J. 16(11):1951-7.
•Tomkins CC(2009)A criterion measure of walking capacity in lumbar spinal stenosis and its comparison with a treadmill protocol.Spine 15;34(22):2444-9.
•Tomkins-Lane CC(2010)Validity and reproducibility of self-report measures of walking capacity in lumbar spinal stenosis. Spine 35(23):2097-102.
•Conway J(2011)Walking assessment in people with lumbar spinal stenosis: capacity, performance, and self-report measures. Spine J. 11(9):816-23.
•Rainville J(2012)Quantification of walking ability in subjects with neurogenic claudication from lumbar spinal stenosis--a comparative study.Spine J. 12(2):101-9.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
Companies etc. with a conflict of interest relation with the presentation which should be disclosed.
The six-minute walk test for patients
with lumbar spinal stenosis
Imoo. Y1, Mamizuka. N2, Kubota. Y1, Suzuki. H3 Hirano. A2, Fujie. K4, Hashimoto. K4, Nakata. Y4, Sakane. M4,
Yamazaki. M4
1.Department of Rehabilitation, University of Tsukuba, Mito Clinical Education and Training Center, Mito Kyodo General Hospital
2.Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Tsukuba, Mito Clinical Education and Training Center, Mito Kyodo General Hospital
3.Department of Health and Sports Science, University of Juntendo 4.Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba
Before the surgery After the surgery
Figure 1. The change between before and after the surgery.
*These results suggest the change in (1)walk distance, (2)walk speed,
(3)severity and (4)physical function.
p<0.001 p<0.001
p<0.001 p<0.001
(1) (2)(1)
(3) (4)
symptom severity physical function
Before distance r=-0.30
(p=0.008)
r=-0.36
(p=0.002)
speed r=-0.25
(p=0.028)
r=-0.30
(p=0.009)
After distance r=-0.22
(p=0.064)
r=-0.33
(p=0.004)
speed r=-0.27
(p=0.020)
r=-0.34
(p=0.002)
Table 1. The correlation with parameter of 6MWT and
ZCQ subscales.
*These results are presented by Pearson product-moment correlation
coefficient(r) with p-value(p).
Email: rugby.imoo@gmail