**1. Introduction**

Low back pain (LBP) is an ailment that impacts work performance and affects up to 80% of the United States population at some point in an individual's, making it one of the most prevalent musculoskeletal conditions causing physical disability [1, 2]. LBP is a major factor in escalat‐ ing health‐care costs with a point prevalence of approximately 12%, a 1‐month prevalence of 23%, and a 1‐year prevalence of 38% [3]. One study reported that between 24 and 80% of older adults with LBP experienced recurrent episodes within 1 year [3]. As the most commonly

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© 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons

encountered medical condition in older adults, LBP poses an even greater challenge in the health care of this population as compared to their younger counterparts.

This chapter proposes biomechanical assessments of spinal function by which to evaluate LBP. The development of a valid and reliable tool for evaluating older adults with LBP is necessary to provide a link between LBP and balance deficits. It might be helpful for clinicians to consider the potential characteristics of kinematic data, such as range of motion, velocity, and acceleration as well as kinetic data, such as ground reaction force (GRF) changes, during the one‐leg standing test. This combined approach could provide a better understanding of postural stability and ground reaction forces for integrating motor control and biomechanics. Specifically, an understanding of the compensatory patterns between normalized kinematic and kinetic stability indices for spinal regions, while considering visual condition may reveal possible pain avoiding strategies from the standing limb. These would be important findings since a lack of coordination and altered postural strategy has the potential to cause muscu‐ loskeletal injuries. Individual variations between older adults might lead to different com‐ pensatory responses and should be elucidated to establish fall prevention strategies. Several studies reported that an analysis of the one‐leg standing test via a motion capture system could be used to determine balance strategies in older adults with LBP [4–8]. However, a comprehensive tool for quantifying kinematic and kinetic changes during one‐leg standing is still needed to enhance evidence‐based practice, prevent fall injuries, and identify factors affecting proprioception and posture.

An evidence‐based, quantitative approach may enhance quality of care for older adults with LBP and aid in preventing injury. Furthermore, the development of potential interventions as a result of this quantitative approach could favorably alter motor control, which plays a key clinical role in terms of musculoskeletal and neurological functioning of older adults with LBP.
