Investigation of vertical ground reaction force during walking in patients with chronic non-specific low back pain: A systematic review

Yalfani, Ali; Sori, Fatemeh; Ahmadi, Mohamadreza; Asgarpoor, Azadeh

doi:10.22084/rsr.2025.30674.1768

Investigation of vertical ground reaction force during walking in patients with chronic non-specific low back pain: A systematic review

Document Type : Review article

Authors

Ali Yalfani ¹

Fatemeh Sori ¹

Mohamadreza Ahmadi ²

Azadeh Asgarpoor ¹

¹ Department of Exercise Rehabilitation, Faculty of Sport Sciences, Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamedan, Iran

² دانشجوی دکترا توانبخشی ورزشی، دانشکده تربیت بدنی و علوم ورزشی، دانشگاه بوعلی سینا، همدان، ایران

10.22084/rsr.2025.30674.1768

Abstract

Background and Aim: Although biomechanical factors have been proposed as the most important factor in the development of clinical symptoms of low back pain, the role of vertical ground reaction force in the onset, recurrence, or persistence of low back pain symptoms remains unclear. The present study aimed to investigate vertical ground reaction force during walking in patients with chronic non-specific low back pain.
Methods: A search for articles limited to the period 2000 to 2025 was conducted from the scientific databases Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane Library, Since direct, and Google Scholar. The search process was carried out using keywords including vertical ground reaction force, vertical loading, ground reaction force, low back pain, walking, gait, and kinetic. The extracted articles were screened according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, and the quality of the selected studies was assessed with the Downs and Black index.
Results: Out of the 4 articles eligible for systematic review, 1 was of high quality and 3 were of moderate quality. In 2 studies, the first peak force showed a decreasing trend, and in 1 study, it showed an increasing trend. In 2 studies, the valley showed an increasing trend. In 2 studies, the second peak force showed a decreasing trend, and in 1 study, it showed an increasing trend.
Conclusion: In patients with low back pain, the valley often had an increasing trend, and the peak second force had a decreasing trend that can be due to weakness of the lower limb muscles, changes in biomechanics, and psychological factors. It is recommended that physicians control lower limb loading to prevent the transfer of additional forces to the knee and lumbar and manage the development and progression of low back pain.

Keywords

Ground reaction force

low back pain

walking

kinetics

Subjects