Table 5.

Relationship between alpha angle, clinical tests and lumbar disc disease as measured by Pfirrmann score

	Combined Pfirrmann score for L3/4, L4/5, L5/S1			Combined Pfirrmann score for all discs
	Coefficient	95% CI	P value	Coefficient	95% CI	P value
Alpha angle for bone at 1 o’clock	3.65	0.13 to 7.16	0.043	2.93	0.12 to 5.74	0.042
Alpha angle for bone at 1 o’clock for maximum value of the two hips	3.31	0.06 to 6.56	0.046	2.85	0.30 to 5.40	0.031
Alpha angle for cartilage at 1 o’clock	3.94	0.46 to 7.42	0.028	3.31	0.58 to 6.05	0.020
Alpha angle for cartilage at 1 o’clock for maximum value of the two hips	3.77	0.79 to 6.75	0.016	3.13	0.79 to 5.48	0.012
Internal rotation	−3.14	−5.81 to −0.48	0.023	−2.60	−4.71 to −0.49	0.018
External rotation	0.73	−1.16 to 2.61	0.427	0.59	−0.92 to 2.10	0.425
Total rotation	−2.41	−6.37 to 1.54	0.215	−2.02	−5.17 to 1.13	0.195
Flexion	0.21	−1.09 to 1.50	0.737	0.27	−0.76 to 1.30	0.594
Extension	−0.60	−1.86 to 0.66	0.332	−0.65	−1.63 to 0.34	0.186