Muscle synergy patterns as altered coordination strategies in individuals with chronic low back pain: a cross-sectional study
Abstract Background Chronic low back pain (CLBP) is a highly prevalent disease with poorly understood underlying mechanisms. In particular, altered trunk muscle coordination in response to specific trunk tasks remains largely unknown. Methods We investigated the muscle synergies during 11 trunk move...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMC
2023-05-01
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| Series: | Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12984-023-01190-z |
| _version_ | 1797778995420332032 |
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| author | Hiroki Saito Hikaru Yokoyama Atsushi Sasaki Kimitaka Nakazawa |
| author_facet | Hiroki Saito Hikaru Yokoyama Atsushi Sasaki Kimitaka Nakazawa |
| author_sort | Hiroki Saito |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background Chronic low back pain (CLBP) is a highly prevalent disease with poorly understood underlying mechanisms. In particular, altered trunk muscle coordination in response to specific trunk tasks remains largely unknown. Methods We investigated the muscle synergies during 11 trunk movement and stability tasks in 15 healthy individuals (8 females and 7 males, aged 21. 3 (20.1–22.8) ± 0.6 years) and in 15 CLBP participants (8 females and 7 males, aged 20. 9 (20.2–22.6) ± 0.7 years) by recording the surface electromyographic activities of 12 back and abdominal muscles (six muscles unilaterally). Non-negative matrix factorization was performed to extract the muscle synergies. Results We found six trunk muscle synergies and temporal patterns in both groups. The high similarity of the trunk synergies and temporal patterns in the groups suggests that both groups share the common feature of the trunk coordination strategy. We also found that trunk synergies related to the lumbar erector spinae showed lower variability in the CLBP group. This may reflect the impaired back muscles that reshape the trunk synergies in the fixed structure of CLBP. Furthermore, the higher variability of trunk synergies in the other muscle regions such as in the latissimus dorsi and oblique externus, which were activated in trunk stability tasks in the CLBP group, represented more individual motor strategies when the trunk tasks were highly demanding. Conclusion Our work provides the first demonstration that individual modular organization is fine-tuned while preserving the overall structures of trunk synergies and temporal patterns in the presence of persistent CLBP. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T23:25:26Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ab766f029a194d49933ee5dce950e640 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1743-0003 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T23:25:26Z |
| publishDate | 2023-05-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation |
| spelling | doaj.art-ab766f029a194d49933ee5dce950e6402023-07-16T11:11:22ZengBMCJournal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation1743-00032023-05-0120111310.1186/s12984-023-01190-zMuscle synergy patterns as altered coordination strategies in individuals with chronic low back pain: a cross-sectional studyHiroki Saito0Hikaru Yokoyama1Atsushi Sasaki2Kimitaka Nakazawa3Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Department of Life Sciences, The University of TokyoInstitute of Engineering, Tokyo University of Agriculture and TechnologyGraduate School of Engineering Science, Department of Mechanical Science and Bioengineering, Osaka UniversityGraduate School of Arts and Sciences, Department of Life Sciences, The University of TokyoAbstract Background Chronic low back pain (CLBP) is a highly prevalent disease with poorly understood underlying mechanisms. In particular, altered trunk muscle coordination in response to specific trunk tasks remains largely unknown. Methods We investigated the muscle synergies during 11 trunk movement and stability tasks in 15 healthy individuals (8 females and 7 males, aged 21. 3 (20.1–22.8) ± 0.6 years) and in 15 CLBP participants (8 females and 7 males, aged 20. 9 (20.2–22.6) ± 0.7 years) by recording the surface electromyographic activities of 12 back and abdominal muscles (six muscles unilaterally). Non-negative matrix factorization was performed to extract the muscle synergies. Results We found six trunk muscle synergies and temporal patterns in both groups. The high similarity of the trunk synergies and temporal patterns in the groups suggests that both groups share the common feature of the trunk coordination strategy. We also found that trunk synergies related to the lumbar erector spinae showed lower variability in the CLBP group. This may reflect the impaired back muscles that reshape the trunk synergies in the fixed structure of CLBP. Furthermore, the higher variability of trunk synergies in the other muscle regions such as in the latissimus dorsi and oblique externus, which were activated in trunk stability tasks in the CLBP group, represented more individual motor strategies when the trunk tasks were highly demanding. Conclusion Our work provides the first demonstration that individual modular organization is fine-tuned while preserving the overall structures of trunk synergies and temporal patterns in the presence of persistent CLBP.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12984-023-01190-zTrunk muscle synergiesLow back painVariabilityMotor control |
| spellingShingle | Hiroki Saito Hikaru Yokoyama Atsushi Sasaki Kimitaka Nakazawa Muscle synergy patterns as altered coordination strategies in individuals with chronic low back pain: a cross-sectional study Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation Trunk muscle synergies Low back pain Variability Motor control |
| title | Muscle synergy patterns as altered coordination strategies in individuals with chronic low back pain: a cross-sectional study |
| title_full | Muscle synergy patterns as altered coordination strategies in individuals with chronic low back pain: a cross-sectional study |
| title_fullStr | Muscle synergy patterns as altered coordination strategies in individuals with chronic low back pain: a cross-sectional study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Muscle synergy patterns as altered coordination strategies in individuals with chronic low back pain: a cross-sectional study |
| title_short | Muscle synergy patterns as altered coordination strategies in individuals with chronic low back pain: a cross-sectional study |
| title_sort | muscle synergy patterns as altered coordination strategies in individuals with chronic low back pain a cross sectional study |
| topic | Trunk muscle synergies Low back pain Variability Motor control |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12984-023-01190-z |
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