Diagnostic Lumbar Spine Standing Position

Ask the person to stand upright with their feet one foot breadth apart.
Observe as the person performs a lateral flexion and note the pelvis's shift in the opposite direction to maintain balance.

During a flexion, the initial movement involves the head moving forward, followed by a dorsal shift of the pelvis to maintain balance. Returning to the original position, the pelvis moves forward, repositioning the centre of gravity just in front of the os sacrum.

Initiating a backward movement, an extension, starts with the head and immediately followed by a shift of the pelvis forward to maintain balance.

Rotations are actively performed but passively supported by the therapist at the pelvis level to acquire the range of movement and the end feel of the motion. While the feet maintain their position, the articulatio coxae and articulatio genu move accordingly with the body's rotation.

After placing a heel raise to provoke a lateral flexion, introduce a second parameter: a rotation. One of the two rotations will likely have a greater range of movement and a better end feel. These two parameters collectively determine the third parameter.