Associations between deformation of the thoracolumbar fascia and changes in electromyographic signal amplitudes in the erector spinae muscle in patients with lumbar back pain and in healthy subjects. A matched pairs study.

Conditions: M54.5
Low back pain

Registration Number: DRKS00027074

Lead Sponsor: Praxis für Osteopathie

Brief Summary: Not available

Detailed Description: Not available

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status: Complete

Sex: All

Target Recruitment: 60

Inclusion Criteria

Inclusion criteria for the case group are acute back pain that has not lasted longer than 6 months, a previous pain-free interval of at least 6 months, a minimum score of 20 on the Oswestry Disability Questionnaire in the German version (ODQ-D), of 3 on the Visual Analog Scale (VAS), female or male gender, and an age between 18 and 60 years. A further requirement is a body mass index (BMI) of 18.5 to 34.9.

The participants of the control group will be matched according to age, gender and BMI to the subjects of the case group. Matching criteria will be (i) age with a tolerance of ± 5 years, (ii) gender, and (iii) weight classification into 3 categories based on BMI.

Exclusion Criteria

Case group: Participants are excluded if they suffer from rheumatic diseases, take medications that influence blood coagulation, take muscle relaxants, have skin changes (e.g. neurodermatitis, psoriasis, urticaria, decubitus) or scars in the area of Th12 and S1 or have undergone other surgical procedures in this area. Furthermore, underweight or more than grade II obese subjects will be excluded as well as subjects who received manual therapy or orthopedic treatment for aLBP less than two weeks prior to study enrollment.

Control group: Exclusion criteria are those of the case group and lumbar back pain in the last 6 months.

Study & Design

Study Type: observational

Study Design: Not specified

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
A total of 4 variables are examined with regard to their significance. Here, for each variable, the descriptive statistics are formed from the difference of the mean between two matched pairs.<br>- Granger causality L1 (%) Percentage of probability that TLF deformation predicts EMG signal at level of L1.<br>- Granger Causality L4 (%) Percentage of probability that the TLF deformation can predict the EMG signal at the level of L4.<br>- The deadlift speed and the 3D deviation of the barbell.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
A total of 5 variables are examined with regard to their significance. For each variable, the descriptive statistics are formed from the difference of the mean value between two matched pairs.<br>- Deformation of TLF (mm) Difference of the maximum and minimum coordinate distance of the US measurement.<br>- L1 Lag Correlation (Fisher-Z) Maximum correlation between the US and EMG signals at a given time point at the level of L4.<br>- L1 Lag (s) Time interval at which the L1 lag correlation (+/-) occurs.<br>- L4 Lag Correlation (Fisher-Z) Maximum correlation between the US and EMG signals at a given time at the level of L4.<br>- L4 Lag (s) Time interval at which the L4 lag correlation (+/-) occurs.