Responsiveness of clinical variables in assessing individuals with low back pain

Abstract

Responsiveness is the ability of a variable to detect important change over time. Besides reliability and validity, physical therapists should emphasize the responsiveness when considering variables that used in clinical research. There are many methods for evaluating such as anchor-based methods, distribution-based methods, previous clinical trial experience, and determining the minimal important difference (MID). The previous studies showed that pain and function have good responsiveness. However, the further study in subgroups of low back pain is highly needed for better management.