A Comparison of Trunk Muscle Activation Amplitudes During Gait in Older Adults With and Without Chronic Low Back Pain

Abstract

The activation amplitudes of the anterior muscle sites were lower for participants with LBP, whereas the posterior sites were activated to higher amplitudes than in the control group. Although most muscles responded to the subphases indicating muscle synergies, the group by muscle interactions for the right internal oblique and lateral erector spinae show that the differences between groups were not systematic. These results describe neuromuscular alterations in persons between 50-80 years with LBP that can be used for developing subject-specific management related to maintaining spinal stability.

Pain catastrophizing and trunk muscle activation during walking in patients with chronic low back pain

“…In some studies, this higher activity was seen across the gait cycle [5,9], while others reported elevated levels only in the swing phase [4,7], and one study found varied changes in different muscles [21]. Differences in electrode placement between studies may, to some degree, explain these differences, as patterns in ESL, ESI and MF were different in the current study.…”

“…The pain-spasm-pain model proposed by Travell et al [22] suggests that pain leads to muscle spasm, thereby resulting in higher levels of muscle activation during a submaximal task, such as walking, as well as at rest [23]. As in previous findings [21], however, the data from the current study found differences in EMG amplitude for only certain muscles (Figure 1), and no significant correlation between EMG amplitude and pain intensity [4,9]. Our findings, therefore, do not support this model.…”

“…They also reported comparable activity of EO across the gait cycle, but did not describe the reduction in phasic activation that was evident in the HBLP group in our study (Figure 1). A study in older adults (50-80 yrs), however, reported lower RA and internal oblique activity (as a %MVIC) during gait in individuals with chronic LBP [21]. These differences may reflect differences in pain catastrophizing and/or the age of the participants.…”

“…These differences may reflect differences in pain catastrophizing and/or the age of the participants. Methodological differences including, but not limited to, the approach to amplitude-normalization of the EMG (none [5] vs. %sub-MVIC vs. %MVIC [21]) also warrant further investigation for these comparisons, and those of the lumbar musculature below.…”

An evolutionary hypothesis to explain the role of deconditioning in low back pain prevalence in humans

“…Evidence instead suggests the lumbar extensor musculature play a role in gait variability in LBP [111,116,117,[120][121][122][123][124][125]. Variability in gait patterns is combined with poorer erector spinae activity adaptability to unexpected perturbations [116], or walking velocity changes [121].…”