Physical examination for lumbar radiculopathy due to disc herniation in patients with low-back pain (Protocol)

This is the protocol for a review and there is no abstract. The objectives are as follows:

The general aim of our review is to provide information that may assist the clinician in making decisions about appropriate management in patients with low-back pain and leg pain suspected of having radicular pain and radiculopathy due to disc herniation. More specifically, the objective of this systematic review is to assess the diagnostic performance of tests performed during physical examination in the identification of radicular pain and radiculopathy due to lumbar disc herniation in patients with low-back and leg pain.

The secondary objective of this review is to assess the influence of sources of heterogeneity on the diagnostic accuracy of tests performed during physical examination, in particular the type of reference standard, health care setting, spectrum of disease, and study design.