Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Persons with recurrent low back pain exhibit a rigid postural control strategy

  • Original Article
  • Published:
European Spine Journal Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Persons with recurrent low back pain (LBP) have been observed to have altered proprioceptive postural control. These patients seem to adopt a body and trunk stiffening strategy and rely more on ankle proprioception to control their posture during quiet upright standing. The aim of this study is to determine the effect of changing postural condition (stable and unstable support surface) on postural stability and proprioceptive postural control strategy in persons with recurrent LBP. Postural sway characteristics of 21 persons with recurrent LBP and 24 healthy individuals were evaluated in upright posture with or without standing on “foam” for the conditions as follows: (1) control (no vibration); (2) vibration of the triceps surae muscles; (3) paraspinal muscle vibration; (4) vibration of the tibialis anterior muscles. Vision was occluded in all conditions except for one control trial. All trials lasted 60 s. Vibration (60 Hz, 0.5 mm), as a potent stimulus for muscle spindles, was initiated 15 s after the start of the trial for a duration of 15 s. Persons with recurrent LBP showed significantly different postural control strategies favoring ankle muscle proprioceptive control (ratio closer to 1) instead of paraspinal muscle proprioceptive control (ratio closer to 0) for both standing without foam (ratio ankle muscle/paraspinal muscle control = 0.83) (P < 0.0001) and on foam (ratio ankle muscle/paraspinal muscle control = 0.87; P < 0.0001) compared to healthy individuals (0.67 and 0.46, respectively). It is concluded that young persons with recurrent LBP seem to use the same proprioceptive postural control strategy even in conditions when this ankle strategy is not the most appropriate such as standing on an unstable support surface. The adopted proprioceptive postural control strategy might be effective in simple conditions, however, when used in all postural conditions this could be a mechanism to undue spinal loading, pain and recurrences.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Aruin AS, Latash ML (1995) Directional specificity of postural muscles in feed-forward postural reactions during fast voluntary arm movements. Exp Brain Res 103:323–332

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Baecke JAH, Burema J, Frijters JER (1982) A short questionnaire for the measurement of habitual physical activity in epidemiological studies. Am J Clin Nutr 36:936–942

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Borkan JM, Cherkin DC (1996) An agenda for primary care research on low back pain. Spine 21:2880–2884

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Brumagne S, Lysens R, Spaepen A (1999) Lumbosacral repositioning accuracy in standing posture: a combined electrogoniometric and videographic evaluation. Clin Biomech 14:361–363

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Brumagne S, Cordo P, Lysens R et al (2000) The role of paraspinal muscle spindles in lumbosacral position sense in individuals with and without low back pain. Spine 25:989–994

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Brumagne S, Cordo P, Verschueren S (2004) Proprioceptive weighting changes in persons with low back pain and elderly persons during upright standing. Neurosci Lett 366:63–66

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Brumagne S, Paulus I, Van Deun S et al (2006) Persons with recurrent low back pain exhibit a rigid postural control strategy. Eur Spine J 15(Suppl. 4):S490

    Google Scholar 

  8. Carpenter MG, Frank JS, Silcher CP et al (2001) The influence of postural threat on the control of upright stance. Exp Brain Res 138:210–218

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Carver S, Kiemel T, Jeka JJ (2006) Modeling the dynamics of sensory reweighting. Biol Cybern 95:123–134

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Cholewicki J, van Dieën JH, Arsenault AB (2003) Muscle function and dysfunction in the spine. J Electromyogr Kinesiol 13:303–304

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Cholewicki J, Silfies SP, Shah RA et al (2005) Delayed trunk muscle reflex responses increase the risk of low back injuries. Spine 30:2614–2620

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Cordo PJ, Gurfinkel VS, Brumagne S et al (2005) Effect of slow, small movement on the vibration-evoked kinesthetic illusion. Exp Brain Res 167:324–334

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. della Volpe R, Popa T, Ginanneschi F et al (2006) Changes in coordination of postural control during dynamic stance in chronic low back pain patients. Gait Posture 24:349–355

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Eklund G (1972) General features of vibration-induced effect on balance. Ups J Med Sci 77:112–124

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Fairbank JCT, Pynsent PB (2000) The oswestry disability index. Spine 25:2940–2953

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Fomin SV, Gurfinkel VS, Feldman AG et al (1976) Moments in human leg joints during walking. Biofizika 21:556–561

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Goodwin GM, McCloskey DI, Matthews PBC (1972) The contribution of muscle afferents to kinesthesia shown by vibration induced illusions of movement and by the effects of paralysing joint afferents. Brain 95:705–748

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Gurfinkel VS, Ivanenko Y, Levik Y et al (1995) Kinesthetic reference for human orthograde posture. Neuroscience 68:229–243

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Henry SM, Hitt JR, Jones SL et al (2006) Decreased limits of stability in response to postural perturbations in subjects with low back pain. Clin Biomech 21:881–892

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Hides JA, Richardson CA, Jull GA (1996) Multifidus muscle recovery is not automatic after resolution of acute, first-episode low back pain. Spine 21:2763–2769

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Hodges PW, Richardson CA (1996) Inefficient muscular stabilization of the lumbar spine associated with low back pain: a motor control evaluation of transversus abdominis. Spine 21:2640–2650

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Hodges PW, Richardson CA (1999) Altered trunk muscle recruitment in people with low back pain with upper limb movement at different speeds. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 80:1005–1012

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Isableu B, Vuillerme N (2006) Differential integration of kinaesthetic signals to postural control. Exp Brain Res 174:763–768

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Ivanenko YP, Grasso R, Lacquaniti F (1999) Effect of gaze on postural responses to neck proprioceptive and vestibular stimulation in humans. J Physiol 519.1:301–314

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Ivanenko YP, Solopova IA, Levik YS (2000) The direction of postural instability affects postural reactions to ankle muscle vibration in humans. Neurosci Lett 292:103–106

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Kent P, Keating JL (2005) Classification in nonspecific low back pain: what methods do primary care clinicians currently use? Spine 30:1433–1440

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  27. Latash ML (2000) There is no motor redundancy in human movements. There is motor abundance. Motor Control 4:259–261

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Marras WS, Ferguson SA, Burr D et al (2007) Low back pain recurrence in occupational environments. Spine 32:2387–2397

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. McGorry RW, Webster BS, Snook SH, Hsiang SM (2000) The relation between pain intensity, disability, and the episodic nature of chronic and recurrent low back pain. Spine 25:834–841

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Mientjes MI, Frank JS (1999) Balance in chronic low back pain patients compared to healthy people under various conditions in upright standing. Clin Biomech 14:710–716

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. Moseley GL, Hodges PW (2005) Are the changes in postural control associated with low back pain caused by pain interference? Clin J Pain 21:323–329

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  32. Moseley GL, Hodges PW (2006) Reduced variability of postural strategy prevents normalization of motor changes induced by back pain: a risk factor for chronic trouble? Behav Neurosci 120:474–476

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  33. Newcomer K, Laskowski ER, Yu B et al (2000) Differences in repositioning error among patients with low back pain compared with control subjects. Spine 25:2488–2493

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. Roll JP, Vedel JP (1982) Kinaesthetic role of muscle afferents in man, studied by tendon vibration and microneurography. Exp Brain Res 47:177–190

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  35. Vuillerme N, Teasdale N, Nougier V (2001) The effect of expertise in gymnastics on proprioceptive sensory integration in human subjects. Neurosci Lett 311:73–76

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  36. Wijnberg N (2001) Posture in Parkinson patients: a proprioceptive problem? In: Duysens J, Smits-Engelsman BCM, Kingma H (eds) Control of posture and gait. International Society for Postural and Gait, Maastricht, pp 758–761

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Musculoskeletal Research Unit, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Faculty of Kinesiology and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Leuven (K.U.Leuven), Tervuursevest 101, 3001, Leuven, Belgium

    Simon Brumagne, Lotte Janssens, Stefanie Knapen & Kurt Claeys

  2. Faculty of Exercise and Sport Sciences, University of Tartu, 18 Ulikooli Street, 500090, Tartu, Estonia

    Ege Suuden-Johanson

Authors
  1. Simon Brumagne
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Lotte Janssens
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Stefanie Knapen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Kurt Claeys
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Ege Suuden-Johanson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Simon Brumagne.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Brumagne, S., Janssens, L., Knapen, S. et al. Persons with recurrent low back pain exhibit a rigid postural control strategy. Eur Spine J 17, 1177–1184 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00586-008-0709-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00586-008-0709-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation