The SLR test – neurodynamics and biomechanics

Abstract

The SLR test (straight leg raise), often reffered to as Lasègue's test, is one of the most often used provocative manoeuvres among patients with the pain ailments of the lower back (LBP). For the first time it was described in 1880 by a Serbian doctor called Lazerevic and since then numerous versions od this test has developed (1). According to the authors' own experience, despite its large popularity in the clinical practice, the practitioners' interpretation of the test is often incorrect and is entirely confined to indicating the results in the dichotomous scale with the determination of the pain level. Such interpretation of the test cannot indicate the source of the pain ailments reported by the patients, all the more become a reference point for the treatment strategy. This study focues on the basic rules of neurodynamics and biomechanics of the SLR test and its varieties- the dynamic test of tibal, peroneal and sural nerves, which should serve as a model for working with the LBP patients.