Results from the Biologic Perspective
A total of eight studies were reviewed related to biologic criteria
(i.e., posture as independent variable, and QOL as dependent variable;
Table 1). Five of these studies included adults aged older than 50
years31-33 and diagnosed with
osteoporosis.22,25 Three of these studies included
children/adolescents (aged 8 to 21 years) diagnosed with
scoliosis.8,21,24 Two of the eight studies included a
RCT with randomization of subjects to either an exercise intervention
and/or a control group.31,33 One of the eight studies
used a quasi-experimental study design with investigator assignment of
subjects to either a spinal exercise versus a control
exercise.8 Two of the eight studies used a
cross-sectional comparative study design to examine the relationship of
posture measurements and QOL.22,25 Three of the eight
studies used a comparative retrospective chart review design involving a
review of indicators of posture and QOL among
subjects8,21,24. A total of 821 participants were
mostly female, and aged from 4 to 90 years. Five of the eight studies
included relatively large sample sizes (> 50
participants).21,24,25,31,32 Three of the eight
studies reported performing an apriori power
analysis.31-33 Six of the eight studies provided
evidence of a statistically significant association between posture and
QOL.