Prone straight leg raise test protocol involves:

Prone straight leg raise test protocol involves:

• A. In prone, patient lifts one leg approximately 20 cm while examiner observes pelvic and lumbar movement.
• B. In prone, patient lifts one leg approximately 40 cm.
• C. In supine, patient lifts both legs.
• D. In prone, patient lifts one leg approximately 20 cm while examiner observes pelvic and lumbar movement.

Answer: (A)

The main idea here is how the prone straight leg raise is performed and what the clinician watches to interpret it. In this test, the patient is lying face down and lifts one leg a modest amount—about 20 cm—while the examiner looks for any movement of the pelvis or the lower back. Keeping the lift small helps prevent compensations from the pelvis or lumbar spine, so you can see if the hip flexion is actually limited by the hamstrings or if there’s a risk of nerve tension or other spinal involvement showing up as abnormal pelvic or lumbar motion. Raising the leg higher, around 40 cm, tends to provoke larger hip flexion and greater potential for pelvic tilting or lumbar movement, which makes it harder to interpret the source of limitation. The supine position describes a different setup and is not the prone unilateral version described here. So the described prone, single-leg lift of about 20 cm with observation of pelvic and lumbar movement is the correct protocol.

The main idea here is how the prone straight leg raise is performed and what the clinician watches to interpret it. In this test, the patient is lying face down and lifts one leg a modest amount—about 20 cm—while the examiner looks for any movement of the pelvis or the lower back. Keeping the lift small helps prevent compensations from the pelvis or lumbar spine, so you can see if the hip flexion is actually limited by the hamstrings or if there’s a risk of nerve tension or other spinal involvement showing up as abnormal pelvic or lumbar motion.

Raising the leg higher, around 40 cm, tends to provoke larger hip flexion and greater potential for pelvic tilting or lumbar movement, which makes it harder to interpret the source of limitation. The supine position describes a different setup and is not the prone unilateral version described here. So the described prone, single-leg lift of about 20 cm with observation of pelvic and lumbar movement is the correct protocol.