Article

Recovery of postural equilibrium following bilateral voluntary arm
movement was evaluated using a case-control study, with 13 subjects with chronic
LBP and 13 age- and gendermatched control subjects. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate
control of the centre-of-pressure (COP), as a marker of the quality of control of
postural equilibrium associated with voluntary arm movements, in people with and
without LBP. Summary of background data. When healthy individuals perform rapid
voluntary arm movements, small spinal movements (preparatory movement) opposite
to the direction of the reactive moments precede voluntary arm movements.
Evaluation of trunk movement in people with LBP suggests that this strategy is
used infrequently in this population and is associated with an increased spinal
displacement following arm flexion. As the preparatory spinal movement was also
thought to be an anticipatory mechanism limiting postural perturbation caused by
arm movements, we hypothesized that LBP subjects would have compromised control
of postural equilibrium following arm flexion. METHODS: Subjects performed
bilateral voluntary rapid arm flexion while standing on support surface of
different dimensions with eyes opened or closed. RESULTS: Results indicated that
people with LBP consistently took longer to recover postural equilibrium and made
more postural adjustments in different stance conditions. However, there was no
increase in the excursion of the COP during the recovery period in the LBP group.
CONCLUSION: These data suggest that while COP is tightly controlled during
postural recovery, the finetuning of the control of postural equilibrium is
compromised in people with LBP. Postural control dysfunctions should be
considered in the management of chronic low back pain.
CI - Copyright (c) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Langue : ANGLAIS