J Korean Acad Rehabil Med.  2002 Dec;26(6):739-744.

The Assessment of Chronic Low Back Pain by Surface Electromyography

• Han JY
• Ju SR
• Choi IS
• Lee SY
• Lee SG
• Rowe SM

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
We studied the clinical utility of surface electromyography (SEMG) for the assessment of chronic low back pain (CLBP). METHOD: We compared electrical activity from electrodes placed on the 16 lumbar paraspinal areas between 25 CLBP patients and 25 control subjects in static neutral standing posture and dynamic flexion-reextension state. The CLBP patients and the control subjects were matched for age, gender, and body mass index (BMI) to adjust for any confounding effects. We analyzed amplitudes and areas of electrical activity on lumbar paraspinal muscles in neutral standing posture and dynamic flexion-reextension state.
RESULTS
In the static neutral posture, there are increased amplitudes of electrical activity in CLBP compared with controls (p<0.01). In the dynamic flexion-reextension state, area ratio of electrical acitivity during the extension state to electrical acitivity during flexion state are significantly decreased in CLBP compared with controls (p<0.01). The presence of lumbar radiculopathy or the severity of LBP is not well correlated with the electrical acitivity on SEMG. The sensitivity and the specificity of SEMG are 72% and 80% respectively.
CONCLUSION
These results indicate that SEMG is a useful method for the assessment of CLBP.

Keyword

Surface electromyography; Chronic low back pain; Assessment

MeSH Terms

Body Mass Index
Electrodes
Electromyography*
Humans
Low Back Pain*
Paraspinal Muscles
Posture
Radiculopathy
Sensitivity and Specificity