Patients with chronic low back pain have a characteristic abnormal muscle activity called "decreased flexion relaxation phenomenon".This is a condition in which the lower back muscles cannot be relaxed when the bowing posture is maintained in a standing position. In addition, patients with chronic low back pain activate only the muscles of a specific part during repeated bending and stretching movements of the lower back, and the entire back muscle group is activated. It is also difficult to use it evenly.
On the other hand, there are reports that multiple factors are associated with pain and disability in patients with chronic back pain.How do characteristic muscle activity abnormalities, such as poor flexion and relaxation, combine with pain-related factors such as psychological and physical paresthesia to cause disability?Focusing on this point, Hayato Shigeto and Shu Morioka, who are in the doctoral program at Kio University Graduate School, have described the degree of influence of abnormal muscle activity and pain-related factors on disability, and the combination of abnormal muscle activity and pain-related factors. As a result of examining the complex relationship such as whether the degree of influence changes, it was found that the combined combination of poor flexion and relaxation and pain-related factors makes disability more likely to occur.
In this study, we evaluated muscle activity and pain-related factors in patients with chronic low back pain, and examined their relationship using association rule analysis.Decreased flexion / relaxation ratio (poor flexion / relaxation) was extracted as the single factor that most affected disability. The combination of physical paresthesia was found to have a stronger effect on disability.
Based on the finding that abnormal muscle activity in patients with chronic low back pain is intertwined with pain-related factors and causes disability, it will be necessary to consider approaches to muscle activity in patients with chronic low back pain in the future. ..In addition, as a future development of this research, we plan to study the effects of these complex relationships on the course of time.
Paper information:[PLOS ONE] Combined abnormal muscle activity and pain-related factors affect disability in patients with chronic low back pain: An association rule analysis
