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Association between spectral characteristics of paraspinal muscles and functional disability in patients with low back pain: a cohort study

OBJECTIVES: Characteristics of muscle activity, represented by surface electromyography (EMG), have revealed differences between patients with low back pain (LBP) and healthy adults; how they relate to functional and clinical parameters remains unclear. The purpose of the current study was to examin...

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Autores principales: Chiou, Shin-Yi, Koutsos, Ermis, Georgiou, Pantelis, Strutton, Paul H
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BMJ Publishing Group 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5829836/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29444776
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2017-017091
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author Chiou, Shin-Yi
Koutsos, Ermis
Georgiou, Pantelis
Strutton, Paul H
author_facet Chiou, Shin-Yi
Koutsos, Ermis
Georgiou, Pantelis
Strutton, Paul H
author_sort Chiou, Shin-Yi
collection PubMed
description OBJECTIVES: Characteristics of muscle activity, represented by surface electromyography (EMG), have revealed differences between patients with low back pain (LBP) and healthy adults; how they relate to functional and clinical parameters remains unclear. The purpose of the current study was to examine the correlation between frequency characteristics of EMG (analysed using continuous wavelet transform (CWT) analysis) and patients’ self-rated score of disability. DESIGN AND SETTING: This is a case-control study with 15 patients with mechanical LBP without radicular symptoms. Patients were recruited from the orthopaedic clinic at Charing Cross Hospital. Ten healthy adults were recruited from the staff working in the hospital and associated university. Patients completed the Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire (RMDQ) and bilateral EMG activity was obtained from erector spinae at vertebral levels L4 and T12. Subjects performed three brief maximal voluntary isometric contractions (MVICs) of the back extensors and the torque was measured using a dynamometer. CWT was applied to the EMG signals of each muscle in a 200 ms window centred around the peak torque obtained during the MVICs. The ratio (low/high frequencies) of the energy, the peak power and the frequency of the peak power were calculated for each recording site, averaged and correlated with the individual’s RMDQ score. RESULTS: Patients had lower peak power (T12 and L4) and lower frequency of the peak power (at T12) than the healthy adults. Additionally, RMDQ positively correlated to the average ratio of energy at T12 (r=0.63; p=0.012), that is, greater self-rated disability corresponded to a dominant distribution of energy in the lower frequencies. CONCLUSION: The current findings reveal alterations in EMG profile and its association with self-related back pain disability, suggesting that spectral characteristics of EMG reflect muscle function.
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spelling pubmed-58298362018-03-01 Association between spectral characteristics of paraspinal muscles and functional disability in patients with low back pain: a cohort study Chiou, Shin-Yi Koutsos, Ermis Georgiou, Pantelis Strutton, Paul H BMJ Open Neurology OBJECTIVES: Characteristics of muscle activity, represented by surface electromyography (EMG), have revealed differences between patients with low back pain (LBP) and healthy adults; how they relate to functional and clinical parameters remains unclear. The purpose of the current study was to examine the correlation between frequency characteristics of EMG (analysed using continuous wavelet transform (CWT) analysis) and patients’ self-rated score of disability. DESIGN AND SETTING: This is a case-control study with 15 patients with mechanical LBP without radicular symptoms. Patients were recruited from the orthopaedic clinic at Charing Cross Hospital. Ten healthy adults were recruited from the staff working in the hospital and associated university. Patients completed the Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire (RMDQ) and bilateral EMG activity was obtained from erector spinae at vertebral levels L4 and T12. Subjects performed three brief maximal voluntary isometric contractions (MVICs) of the back extensors and the torque was measured using a dynamometer. CWT was applied to the EMG signals of each muscle in a 200 ms window centred around the peak torque obtained during the MVICs. The ratio (low/high frequencies) of the energy, the peak power and the frequency of the peak power were calculated for each recording site, averaged and correlated with the individual’s RMDQ score. RESULTS: Patients had lower peak power (T12 and L4) and lower frequency of the peak power (at T12) than the healthy adults. Additionally, RMDQ positively correlated to the average ratio of energy at T12 (r=0.63; p=0.012), that is, greater self-rated disability corresponded to a dominant distribution of energy in the lower frequencies. CONCLUSION: The current findings reveal alterations in EMG profile and its association with self-related back pain disability, suggesting that spectral characteristics of EMG reflect muscle function. BMJ Publishing Group 2018-02-14 /pmc/articles/PMC5829836/ /pubmed/29444776 http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2017-017091 Text en © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted. This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
spellingShingle Neurology
Chiou, Shin-Yi
Koutsos, Ermis
Georgiou, Pantelis
Strutton, Paul H
Association between spectral characteristics of paraspinal muscles and functional disability in patients with low back pain: a cohort study
title Association between spectral characteristics of paraspinal muscles and functional disability in patients with low back pain: a cohort study
title_full Association between spectral characteristics of paraspinal muscles and functional disability in patients with low back pain: a cohort study
title_fullStr Association between spectral characteristics of paraspinal muscles and functional disability in patients with low back pain: a cohort study
title_full_unstemmed Association between spectral characteristics of paraspinal muscles and functional disability in patients with low back pain: a cohort study
title_short Association between spectral characteristics of paraspinal muscles and functional disability in patients with low back pain: a cohort study
title_sort association between spectral characteristics of paraspinal muscles and functional disability in patients with low back pain: a cohort study
topic Neurology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5829836/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29444776
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2017-017091
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