Loading and recovery behavior of the human lumbar spine under static flexion

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

2-21-2011

Abstract

Objective: In this study, the effect of prolonged forward flexion on the recovery process of the reflexive muscle activity of the lumbar musculature to its original state is studied using human participants. Methods: The behavior of the lower back erector spinae muscle during 20 minutes of forward bending and three hours of recovery was evaluated experimentally using electromyography (EMG) and mathematical modeling. Participants: Ten healthy males participated in this study. The EMG of erector-spinae muscle from two different lumbar levels was recorded and expressed as normalized integrated EMG (NIEMG). Results: In general, the average NIEMG values of the erector spinae muscles demonstrated an exponential decrease during the 20-minute loading period. The biexoponential structure, derived from the animal model, did not completely explain the muscle behavior during recovery period. Inclusion of the "intrinsic loading factor" to the biexoponential structure improved the fit of the recovery model to 100%. Conclusions: Most of the recovery (almost 50%) of the reflexive activity of erector spinae muscle was observed in the initial 30 minutes; yet by the end of three hours, complete recovery was not observed. © 2011 - IOS Press and the authors. All rights reserved.

Publication Source (Journal or Book title)

Work

First Page

111

Last Page

122

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