Clinical trial NCT01979783: Correlation Between Electromyography and Thickness Change of the Trunk Muscles in Subjects With Low Back Pain
Study type: OBSERVATIONAL
Overall status: UNKNOWN
Conditions: Low Back Pain
Lead sponsor: University of Belgrade
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2013-11-08
Enrollment: 60
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Maximum age (years): 65
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Observational model: CASE_CONTROL
Time perspective: CROSS_SECTIONAL
Sampling method: PROBABILITY_SAMPLE
Study population: tertiary care clinic

Brief summary: Transversus abdominis (TrA) and lumbar multifidus (LM) muscle have been proposed to play key role in stability of the lumbosacral spine. The muscles' functional and/or structural deficits have been linked to the low back pain (LBP) syndrome. Evaluation of the transversus abdominis and lumbar multifidus muscles' function in clinical practice is scarce and not well defined due to number of reasons. Surface electromyography of TrA and LM muscles, as a method of examining muscles function, is not involved in clinical routine. Rehabilitative Ultrasound Imaging (RUSI) of the TrA and LM, apart from providing information about their morphology, could be helpful in assessing their function. Since concentric muscle contraction results in the shortening and thickening of the muscle, evaluation of the potential association between muscle's morphometry, assessed by the ultrasound, and electromyography, may be of potential clinical interest. However, this potential relationship is context-dependant. Our aim was to establish the difference in the thickness change of the TrA and LM muscle during activation in subjects with and without low back pain, and to establish the possible correlation between electromyography and the thickness change of these muscles assessed by ultrasound in both groups of subjects.


Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

Low back pain, with or without radiculopathy, that lasted for at least 12 weeks, caused by prolapsed intervertebral disc (PID), confirmed by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)

Exclusion Criteria:

The exclusion criteria for all participants were pregnancy,diabetes mellitus,corticosteroids administrated in one months or less prior to enrollment, spinal fractures, surgery, infectious diseases, tumors, spina bifida, advanced forms of spinal deformity, hip diseases, and neuromuscular disorders. Additional exclusion criteria for LBP participants were self-reported pain levels of less than 3 on the Visual Analog Scale to account for patients commonly encountered in clinical practice, and inability to remain in prone and supine hook-lying positions for 10 minutes each in order to ensure compliance.

Primary outcomes:
measure: thickness of the lumbar multifidus and transversus abdominis muscle
timeFrame: 1 day
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Belgrade
country: Serbia
facility: Clinic for Rehabilitation Dr Mirsoslav Zotovic Faculty of Medicine University of Belgrade
Study officials:
References:
citation: Djordjevic O, Konstantinovic L, Miljkovic N, Bijelic G. Relationship Between Electromyographic Signal Amplitude and Thickness Change of the Trunk Muscles in Patients With and Without Low Back Pain. Clin J Pain. 2015 Oct;31(10):893-902. doi: 10.1097/AJP.0000000000000179.