Test library › Low back & pelvis
Prone Instability Test
For: Response to stabilisation exercise
Not a diagnosis: whether a patient with low back pain is likely to improve with a trunk stabilisation exercise programme.
A weak test on its ownThese figures have not been confirmed against the full paper (checked against the abstract or a secondary source only).
What the numbers mean
- Positive result: barely informative: a positive result changes little.
- Negative result: a small shift: a negative result nudges the diagnosis down, but does not exclude it.
Source
Hicks GE, Fritz JM, Delitto A, McGill SM. Preliminary development of a clinical prediction rule for determining which patients with low back pain will respond to a stabilization exercise program. Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2005;86(9):1753–1762. PubMed · single study
Figures as they will appear in Rule It In, Rule It Out (Trokos, forthcoming). If a newer or better study changes them, this page changes with the book. Figures last updated from the book on 2 October 2026.
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This page gives the published figures. Rule It In, Rule It Out adds how to do this test, what counts as positive, how to read the result, and, where studied, whether combining it with other tests helps.
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One study, one test, once a month
Rule It In is a free evidence letter for musculoskeletal clinicians: one recent study explained, one examination test with its real numbers. From Trokos, publisher of Rule It In, Rule It Out.