A Study on the Relationship between Postural Control and Pain-Related Clinical Outcomes in Patients with Chronic Nonspecific Low Back Pain


Author: Qiuhua Yu1, Yunxia Huo1,2, Min Chen1,3, Zhou Zhang1, Zhicheng Li1, Haizhen Luo4, Zhenwen Liang5, Chuhuai Wang1, Wai Leung Ambrose Lo1,6

Affiliation: <sup>1</sup> Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China.

<sup>2</sup> Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China.

<sup>3</sup> Biomedical Research Institute, Shenzhen-Peking University-The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Medical Center, Shenzhen, China.

<sup>4</sup> Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China.

<sup>5</sup> Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, Guangzhou, China.

<sup>6</sup> Guangdong Engineering and Technology Research Centre for Rehabilitation Medicine and Translation, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Conference/Journal: Pain Res Manag
Date published: 2021 Nov 2
Other:
 Volume ID: 2021   ,  Pages: 9054152   ,  Special Notes: doi: 10.1155/2021/9054152.   ,  Word Count: 238  
    Objectives:

To explore the relationship between postural control and pain-related clinical outcomes in patients with chronic nonspecific low back pain (cNLBP).



Methods:

Participants with cNLBP and healthy individuals were recruited. Muscle activities were recorded during internal and external perturbation tasks. Postural control capacity was assessed by muscle onset time and integrals of electromyography (iEMGs) of postural muscles during the phases of anticipatory postural adjustments (APAs) and compensatory postural adjustments (CPAs). Correlation analysis was employed to investigate the relationship between postural control capacity, pain, and disability.



Results:

Twenty-seven patients with cNLBP and 27 healthy participants were recruited. Gastrocnemius (GA) muscle onset time was earlier in the cNLBP group than in the control group in the internal perturbation task. The onset time of GA and erector spinae (ES) of the cNLBP group was later than that of the controls in the external perturbation task. Disability level moderately correlated with the iEMGs of rectus abdominis (RA), GA, and external oblique (EO) during APAs. Pain score moderately correlated with the iEMGs of RA, EO, and ES during CPAs of perturbation tasks.



Conclusion:

cNLBP participants had altered muscle activation strategy to maintain postural stability in response to perturbation. This study further discovered that pain-related disabilities of cNLBP participants were likely related to the APAs capacity, whereas the pain intensity may relate to the CPAs capacity. Pain and disability may therefore be related to the control process of the posture-related muscles.





PMID: 34765050 PMCID: PMC8577937 DOI: 10.1155/2021/9054152