Biomechanical Assessment of Spinal Posture in Girls With Primary Dysmenorrhea

Primary dysmenorrhea is defined as painful menses in women with a normal pelvic anatomy. Adolescent girls tend to have a higher prevalence of primary dysmenorrhoea than older women, as primary dysmenorrhoea can improve with age.Asymmetry in upright posture is associated with various outcomes, such as the decreased loading of the affected side in stroke; degenerative changes of the hip, knee, and ankle joints and spine; or a leg length discrepancy.restriction of movement of the lumbosacral vertebrae, body fluid increases within the pelvis as well as contraction of the uterus leading to the intensification of the menstrual pain. Although, several studies evaluated the relation between spinal alignment, spinal configuration and primary dysmenorrhea, but, there is no previous study investigate the effect of leg length discrepancy on primary dysmenorrhea. So, this study will correlate leg length discrepancy with spinal configuration and primary dysmenorrhea.

One handred healthy girls with regular menstrual cycle and are not have any pelvic or gynecological disorders will be participated in this study. All subjects will be recruited from student of faculty of physical therapy, Cairo University.

1. Personal data: All data will be recorded in a recording data sheet.
2. Formetric Raster stereography: It will be used to assess spinal configuration (kyphotic angle, lordotic angle, pelvic inclination, trunk inclination and pelvic tilting) during menstruation.
3. Leg length discrepancy Tape measure can be used to measure the true leg length from the anterior superior iliac spine to the medial malleolus. The functional leg length is measured from the umbilicus to medial malleolus.
4. Inclinometer can be used to measure range of motion of lumbar spines.