Achieving maximal voluntary contraction of paraspinal muscles requires two tasks: Insight from an EMG study of females with and without adolescent idiopathic scoliosis.

An accurate estimation of maximal voluntary muscle activation is critical for normalisation in scientific studies. Only a handful of studies appropriately normalise muscle activation data when investigating paraspinal muscle activity in populations such as adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS). This neglect compromises the ability to interpret data.

Poor lumbar spine coordination in acute low back pain predicts persistent long-term pain and disability.

Purpose: Sitting balance on an unstable surface requires coordinated out-of-phase lumbar spine and provides sufficient challenge to expose quality of spine control. We investigated whether the quality of spine coordination to maintain balance in acute low back pain (LBP) predicts recovery at 6 months.

Methods: Participants in an acute LBP episode (n = 94) underwent assessment of sitting balance on an unstable surface.

Trunk postural control during unstable sitting among individuals with and without low back pain: A systematic review with an individual participant data meta-analysis.

Introduction: Sitting on an unstable surface is a common paradigm to investigate trunk postural control among individuals with low back pain (LBP), by minimizing the influence lower extremities on balance control. Outcomes of many small studies are inconsistent (e.g.

Comparison of Shoulder Range of Motion Quantified with Mobile Phone Video-Based Skeletal Tracking and 3D Motion Capture-Preliminary Study.

Background: The accuracy of human pose tracking using smartphone camera (2D-pose) to quantify shoulder range of motion (RoM) is not determined.

Methods: Twenty healthy individuals were recruited and performed shoulder abduction, adduction, flexion, or extension, captured simultaneously using a smartphone-based human pose estimation algorithm (Apple's vision framework) and using a skin marker-based 3D motion capture system. Validity was assessed by comparing the 2D-pose outcomes against a well-established 3D motion capture protocol.

Coordination of hip and spine in individuals with acute low back pain during unstable sitting.

Background Context: Trunk postural control differs between individuals with and without chronic low back pain (LBP). Whether this corresponds to differences in hip/spine coordination during the early acute phase of LBP (ALBP) is unclear.

Purpose: To compare hip/spine coordination in relation to seat movements between individuals with and without ALBP when balancing on an unstable seat and to identify coordination strategies to maintain balance using cluster analysis.

Estimation of human spine orientation with inertial measurement units (IMU) at low sampling rate: How low can we go?

Studying people in their daily life is important for understanding conditions with multi-faceted aetiology such as chronic low back pain. Inertial measurement units can be used to reconstruct the posture and motion of the body outside of laboratories to enable this research. The battery life of these sensors strongly affects the usability of the system, since recharging them frequently is inconvenient and can lead to additional errors.

Comparison of a Wearable Accelerometer/Gyroscopic, Portable Gait Analysis System (LEGSYS+) to the Laboratory Standard of Static Motion Capture Camera Analysis.

Examination of gait patterns has been used to determine severity, intervention triage and prognostic measures for many health conditions. Methods that generate detailed gait data for clinical use are typically logistically constrained to a formal gait laboratory setting. This has led to an interest in portable analysis systems for near clinical or community-based assessments.

Postural control of the trunk in individuals with and without low back pain during unstable sitting: A protocol for a systematic review with an individual participant data meta-analysis.

Introduction: Postural control of the trunk is critical for performance of everyday activities and the health of spinal tissues. Although some studies report that individuals with low back pain (LBP) have poorer/compromised postural control than pain-free individuals when sitting on an unstable surface, others do not. Analyses commonly lack the statistical power to evaluate the relevance of features that could impact the performance of postural control, such as sex, age, anthropometrics, pain intensity or disability.

A vision for the future of wearable sensors in spine care and its challenges: narrative review.

Objective: This review aimed to: (I) provide a brief overview of some topical areas of current literature regarding applications of wearable sensors in the management of low back pain (LBP); (II) present a vision for a future comprehensive system that integrates wearable sensors to measure multiple parameters in the real world that contributes data to guide treatment selection (aided by artificial intelligence), uses wearables to aid treatment support, adherence and outcome monitoring, and interrogates the response of the individual patient to the prescribed treatment to guide future decision support for other individuals who present with LBP; and (III) consider the challenges that will need to be overcome to make such a system a reality.

Background: Advances in wearable sensor technologies are opening new opportunities for the assessment and management of spinal conditions. Although evidence of improvements in outcomes for individuals with LBP from the use of sensors is limited, there is enormous future potential.

Balance control in unstable sitting in individuals with an acute episode of low back pain.

Background: Low back pain (LBP) is associated with altered postural control, mostly observed at later stages in the LBP trajectory. It is unclear whether postural control differs in the acute phase of LBP.

Research Question: Is postural control different in the acute phase of LBP (<2 weeks) and do differences depend on pain intensity, psychological features and/or availability of vision to control posture?

Methods: Cross-sectional study design.

Coordination of hip and spine to maintain equilibrium in unstable sitting revealed by spectral analysis.

Unstable sitting paradigms have been used to assess the trunk's contribution to postural control. The coordination of spine or hip with an unstable seat that underpin postural control during this task remain unclear. This study aimed to address this issue using analysis in the frequency domain.

Influence of transducer orientation on shear wave velocity measurements of the iliotibial band.

Tissue anisotropy influences estimation of mechanical properties of connective tissues, such as the iliotibial band (ITB). This study investigated the influence of ultrasound transducer rotation and tilt on shear wave velocity (SWV, an index of stiffness) measurements of the ITB and the intra-rater repeatability of SWV measurements in the longitudinal direction. SWV was measured unilaterally (dominant limb) using ultrasound shear wave elastography in the middle region of the ITB in supine at rest (20-25° knee flexion) in ten healthy volunteers (4 females).

Evaluating validity of the Kids-Balance Evaluation Systems Test (Kids-BESTest) Clinical Test of Sensory Integration of Balance (CTSIB) criteria to categorise stance postural control of ambulant children with CP.

Purpose: Evaluate the validity of the Clinical Test of Sensory Integration of Balance (CTSIB) scored using Kids-Balance Evaluation Systems Test (Kids-BESTest) criteria compared to laboratory measures of postural control.

Method: Participants were 58 children, 7-18 years, 17 with ambulant cerebral palsy (CP) (GMFCS I-II), and 41 typically developing (TD). Postural control in standing was assessed using CTSIB items firm and foam surfaces, eyes open (EO) then closed (EC).

Cohort profile: why do people keep hurting their back?

Objective: Low back pain (LBP) is one of the most disabling and costly conditions worldwide. It remains unclear why many individuals experience persistent and recurrent symptoms after an acute episode whereas others do not. A longitudinal cohort study was established to address this problem.

Trunk stiffness decreases and trunk damping increases with experimental low back pain.

Movement adaptations to low back pain (LBP) are believed to protect the painful area. Increased trunk stiffness and decreased trunk damping have been shown in people with recurrent LBP. However, no study has examined these properties using external force perturbations to the trunk during acute LBP when protective adaptations might be expected to have most relevance.

Novel insight into pressurization of the male and female urethra through application of a multi-channel fibre-optic pressure transducer: Proof of concept and validation.

Purpose: To confirm feasibility of recording pressure along the length of the urethra using a multi-sensor fibre-optic pressure catheter; to identify the spatial and temporal features of changes in pressure along the urethra at sites related to specific striated pelvic floor muscles; and to investigate the relationship between urethral pressures and activation of individual pelvic floor muscles estimated from ultrasound imaging.

Materials And Methods: Proof-of-concept study including one male (47 years old) and one female (33 years old). A multi-sensor fibre optic pressure catheter (10 mm sensor separation) was inserted into the urethra.

Reliability of recurrence quantification analysis of postural sway data. A comparison of two methods to determine recurrence thresholds.

Ageing affects balance control resulting in a greater amplitude of sway and alterations in structure of the sway time series. Recurrence quantification analysis (RQA) has been used to determine the structure of center-of-pressure (CoP; a measure that reflects standing postural control) data as a means to quantify how CoP repeats itself / recurs below a certain threshold. This study aimed to determine how the method of threshold determination, below which a recurrence is defined, affects the within-session reliability of RQA in an elderly population.

Deep hip muscle activation during squatting in femoroacetabular impingement syndrome.

Background: Deep hip muscle retraining is a common objective of non-operative management for femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) syndrome. These muscles are considered to have an important role in hip joint stabilization, however, it is unclear whether their function is altered in the presence of hip pathology. This exploratory study aimed to investigate activation patterns of the hip muscles during two squatting tasks in individuals with and without FAI syndrome.

Task-specific differences in respiration-related activation of deep and superficial pelvic floor muscles.

The female pelvic floor muscles (PFM) are arranged in distinct superficial and deep layers that function to support the pelvic/abdominal organs and maintain continence, but with some potential differences in function. Although general recordings of PFM activity show amplitude modulation in conjunction with fluctuation in intra-abdominal pressure such as that associated with respiration, it is unclear whether the activities of the two PFM layers modulate in a similar manner. This study aimed to investigate the activation of the deep and superficial PFM during a range of respiratory tasks in different postures.

Shear-wave velocity of the patellar tendon and quadriceps muscle is increased immediately after maximal eccentric exercise.

Purpose: To determine whether stiffness of the patellar tendon and quadriceps muscles is altered immediately after and 48 h after a single bout of maximal eccentric exercise of the knee extensor muscles.

Methods: Thirteen healthy individuals [group mean (SD) age 22.4 (3.

Center of Pressure Motion After Calf Vibration Is More Random in Fallers Than Non-fallers: Prospective Study of Older Individuals.

Aging is associated with changes in balance control and elderly take longer to adapt to changing sensory conditions, which may increase falls risk. Low amplitude calf muscle vibration stimulates local sensory afferents/receptors and affects sense of upright when applied in stance. It has been used to assess the extent the nervous system relies on calf muscle somatosensory information and to rapidly change/perturb part of the somatosensory information causing balance unsteadiness by addition and removal of the vibratory stimulus.

ISSLS PRIZE IN CLINICAL SCIENCE 2018: longitudinal analysis of inflammatory, psychological, and sleep-related factors following an acute low back pain episode-the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Study Design: Prospective longitudinal study.

Objective: To determine whether systemic cytokines and C-reactive protein (CRP) during an acute episode of low back pain (LBP) differ between individuals who did and did not recover by 6 months and to identify sub-groups based on patterns of inflammatory, psychological, and sleep features associated with recovery/non-recovery. Systemic inflammation is observed in chronic LBP and may contribute to the transition from acute to persistent LBP.

Effect of experimental muscle pain on the acquisition and retention of locomotor adaptation: different motor strategies for a similar performance.

As individuals with musculoskeletal disorders often experience motor impairments, contemporary rehabilitation relies heavily on the use of motor learning principles. However, motor impairments are often associated with pain. Although there is substantial evidence that muscle pain interferes with motor control, much less is known on its impact on motor learning.

Heterogeneity of passive elastic properties within the quadriceps femoris muscle-tendon unit.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare regional elastic properties between anterior and posterior regions of the patellar tendon, and individual quadriceps muscles, over a range of knee flexion angles.

Methods: An isokinetic dynamometer passively positioned the non-dominant knee of 19 young, healthy participants, at 25°, 40°, 55°, 70° and 85° flexion. Shear wave velocity (SWV, an index of tissue elasticity) was measured using ultrasound shear wave elastography in a relaxed (passive) state, confirmed by electromyography.

Postprostatectomy incontinence is related to pelvic floor displacements observed with trans-perineal ultrasound imaging.

Aims: To investigate the relationship between post-prostatectomy incontinence and dynamic features of activation of specific pelvic floor muscles in addition to anatomical parameters of the urethra.

Methods: Forty-two men aged 66 (7) years (incontinent [N = 19] and continent [N = 23]) who had undergone prostatectomy participated. Transperineal ultrasound imaging was used to record sagittal images of pelvic structures during involuntary coughing and sustained maximal voluntary contractions.