The Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) developed a score for evaluating patients with low back pain syndrome. This can be used to evaluate the patient initially and to measure the effect of interventions.
Parameters:
(1) lower back pain (subjective symptom)
(2) leg pain and/or tingling (subjective symptom)
(3) sensory disturbances (clinical sign)
(4) motor disturbances (clinical sign)
Parameter |
Finding |
Points |
---|---|---|
lower back pain |
none |
3 |
|
occasional, slight |
2 |
|
occasional, moderate to severe |
1 |
|
continuous and severe |
0 |
leg pain and/or tingling |
none |
3 |
|
occasional, slight |
2 |
|
occasional, moderate to severe |
1 |
|
continuous and severe |
0 |
sensory disturbance |
none |
2 |
|
slight disturbance |
1 |
|
moderate to marked disturbance |
0 |
motor disturbance |
none |
2 |
|
slight disturbance |
1 |
|
moderate to marked disturbance |
0 |
total score =
= SUM(points for all 4 parameters)
Interpretation:
• minimum score: 0
• maximum score: 10
• The higher the score the less severe the syndrome.
Purpose: To evaluate a patient with low back pain using the score of the Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA).
Specialty: Surgery, orthopedic
Objective: clinical diagnosis, including family history for genetics, severity, prognosis, stage
ICD-10: M54.5,