Article

OBJECTIVE: To understand lumbar multifidus (LM) muscle activation as a clinical
feature to predict patients with low back pain (LBP) who are likely to benefit
from stabilization (STB) exercises. DESIGN: Prospective, cohort study. SETTING:
Outpatient physical therapy clinics. PARTICIPANTS: Persons with LBP were
recruited for this study. Subjects (N=25) were classified as either eligible to
receive STB exercises or ineligible on the basis of current clinical prediction
rules. INTERVENTIONS: Six weeks of STB treatment. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Before
and after treatment, subjects underwent rehabilitative ultrasound imaging to
quantify LM-muscle activation and completed disability and pain questionnaires.
Analyses were performed to examine the (1) relation between LM-muscle activation
and current clinical features used to predict patients with LBP likely to benefit
from STB exercises, (2) LM-muscle activation between the STB-eligible and
STB-ineligible groups before and after STB treatment, and (3) relation between
LM-muscle activation before STB treatment and (a) disability and (b) pain
outcomes after treatment for both groups. RESULTS: No relation was found between
LM-muscle activation and the number of clinical features. Before STB treatment,
LM-muscle activation between the STB-eligible and STB-ineligible groups did not
differ. After STB treatment, LM-muscle activation differed between the groups;
however, this interaction was because the LM-muscle activation for the
STB-eligible group decreased after treatment while that for the STB-ineligible
group increased after treatment. Finally, only the STB-eligible group had a
significant reduction in disability following treatment; however, no relation was
found between LM-muscle activation before treatment and (a) disability or (b)
pain outcomes after treatment in the STB-eligible group. CONCLUSIONS: LM-muscle
activation does not appear to be a clinical feature that predicts patients with
LBP likely to benefit from STB exercises.
CI - Copyright (c) 2013 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by
Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Langue : ANGLAIS