Proprioception plays an important role in appropriate sensation of spine position, movement, and stability. Previous research has demonstrated that position sense error in the lumbar spine is increased in flexed postures. This study investigated the change in position sense as a function of altered trunk flexion and moment loading independently. Reposition sense of lumbar angle in 17 subjects was assessed. Subjects were trained to assume specified lumbar angles using visual feedback. The ability of the subjects to reproduce this curvature without feedback was then assessed. This procedure was repeated for different torso flexion and moment loading conditions. These measurements demonstrated that position sense error increased significantly with the trunk flexion (40%, p < .05) but did not increase with moment load (p = .13). This increased error with flexion suggests a loss in the ability to appropriately sense and therefore control lumbar posture in flexed tasks. This loss in proprioceptive sense could lead to more variable lifting coordination and a loss in dynamic stability that could increase low back injury risk. This research suggests that it is advisable to avoid work in flexed postures.
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Venkata K. Gade and Sara E. Wilson
Dean C. Hay, Mark P. Wachowiak, and Ryan B. Graham
Advances in time-frequency analysis can provide new insights into the important, yet complex relationship between muscle activation (ie, electromyography [EMG]) and motion during dynamic tasks. We use wavelet coherence to compare a fundamental cyclical movement (lumbar spine flexion and extension) to the surface EMG linear envelope of 2 trunk muscles (lumbar erector spinae and internal oblique). Both muscles cohere to the spine kinematics at the main cyclic frequency, but lumbar erector spinae exhibits significantly greater coherence than internal oblique to kinematics at 0.25, 0.5, and 1.0 Hz. Coherence phase plots of the 2 muscles exhibit different characteristics. The lumbar erector spinae precedes trunk extension at 0.25 Hz, whereas internal oblique is in phase with spine kinematics. These differences may be due to their proposed contrasting functions as a primary spine mover (lumbar erector spinae) versus a spine stabilizer (internal oblique). We believe that this method will be useful in evaluating how a variety of factors (eg, pain, dysfunction, pathology, fatigue) affect the relationship between muscles’ motor inputs (ie, activation measured using EMG) and outputs (ie, the resulting joint motion patterns).
Catherine Mason and Matt Greig
experiencing pain, and for 76% of riders this pain was in the lower back. 3 Kraft et al 4 postulated that the cause of low back pain in riders might be an overuse syndrome of the lumbar spine as a result of the repetitive compressive, torsional, and bending loads absorbed by the rider. 5 The authors used
Jeff M. Barrett, Colin D. McKinnon, Clark R. Dickerson, and Jack P. Callaghan
might contribute to chronic neck pain. 6 – 8 Biomechanical cervical spine models have typically used forward dynamics to study the head–neck response to dynamic impacts. 9 – 16 However, since these models were focused on characterizing whiplash events, they have generally overlooked neck pain arising
Daniel Viggiani, Erin M. Mannen, Erika Nelson-Wong, Alexander Wong, Gary Ghiselli, Kevin B. Shelburne, Bradley S. Davidson, and Jack P. Callaghan
The coordination of lumbar intervertebral motion is often investigated with respect to the incidence of low back pain (LBP). 1 , 2 While different studies attempt to assess how people coordinate their lumbar spine motion, most share the goal of trying to uncover potential mechanisms as to why
Hardeep Singh, Mark Lee, Matthew J. Solomito, Christian Merrill, and Carl Nissen
Spondylolysis is an acquired fracture along the bony connection (pars interarticularis) between the superior and articular facets of a vertebral body and most commonly occurs in the lumbar spine. Spondylolisthesis, in which one vertebral body translates in the sagittal plane across the adjacent
Richard O. Fagbemigun, Melissa Cavallo, and Stephen H.M. Brown
The spine musculature is comprised of a complex network of contractile and connective tissues; however, the nature and functional consequences of the interaction between these tissues are not clear. The electromechanical delay (EMD) can be defined as the time delay between the onset of an
Brendan L. Pinto, Daniel Viggiani, and Jack P. Callaghan
The lumbar extensor spinae (LES) muscle is a primary mover of the lumbar spine due to its size and direct attachments on the accessory and transverse processes of the lumbar vertebrae. 1 LES morphology, specifically fiber orientation and cross-sectional area, has been linked to LES strength, 2
Angélica Ginés-Díaz, María Teresa Martínez-Romero, Antonio Cejudo, Alba Aparicio-Sarmiento, and Pilar Sainz de Baranda
The spine, in its sagittal plane, presents a series of physiological curvatures: cervical lordosis constituted by 7 vertebrae (C1–C7), thoracic or dorsal kyphosis constituted by 12 vertebrae (T1–T12), lumbar lordosis formed by 5 vertebrae (L1–L5), sacrum kyphosis formed by 5 vertebrae usually fused
Liana M. Tennant, Erika Nelson-Wong, Joshua Kuest, Gabriel Lawrence, Kristen Levesque, David Owens, Jeremy Prisby, Sarah Spivey, Stephanie R. Albin, Kristen Jagger, Jeff M. Barrett, James D. Wong, and Jack P. Callaghan
Spinal mobility is commonly assessed by clinicians for individuals with low back pain (LBP) and is an important factor for informing patient diagnosis, prognosis, and plan of care. 1 – 4 Segmental mobility may provide insight on spine health and function, given that in vitro findings of tissue
