Trunk postural adjustments: Medium-term reliability and correlation with changes of clinical outcomes following an 8-week lumbar stabilization exercise program.

Background: Low back pain (LBP) has been previously associated with delayed anticipatory postural adjustments (APAs) determined by trunk muscle activation. Lumbar stabilization exercise programs (LSEP) for patients with LBP may restore the trunk neuromuscular control of the lumbar spine, and normalize APAs. This exploratory study aimed at testing the reliability of EMG and kinematics-based postural adjustment measures over an 8-week interval, assessing their sensitivity to LBP status and treatment and examining their relationship with clinical outcomes.

Segmental specificity in belly dance mimics primal trunk locomotor patterns.

Belly dance was used to investigate control of rhythmic undulating trunk movements in humans. Activation patterns in lumbar erector spinae muscles were recorded using surface electromyography at four segmental levels spanning T10 to L4. Muscle activation patterns for movement tempos of 2 Hz, 3 Hz, and as fast as possible (up to 6 Hz) were compared to test the hypothesis that frequency modulates muscle timing, causing pattern changes analogous to gait transitions.

Independent activation in adjacent lumbar extensor muscle compartments.

The purpose of this study was to examine compartmentalization in human lumbar spine extensors. Structure and innervation of these muscles would suggest the possibility of more segmentally specific biomechanical functions than have been found in previous studies examining muscle activation patterns during simple spine bending and twisting tasks. We selected specialized tasks to more effectively investigate the degree of independent control possible within lumbar spine extensors.