Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Task-Invariance And Reliability Of Anticipatory Postural Adjustments In Healthy Young Adults, Jo Armour Smith, Niklas König Ignasiak, Jesse V. Jacobs

Physical Therapy Faculty Articles and Research

Background

Anticipatory postural adjustments (APAs) occur in the trunk during tasks such as rapid limb movement and are impaired in individuals with musculoskeletal and neurological dysfunction. To understand APA impairment, it is important to first determine if APAs can be measured reliably and which characteristics of APAs are task-invariant.

Research question

What is the test-retest reliability of latency, amplitude and muscle activation patterns (synergies) of trunk APAs during arm-raise and leg-raise tasks, and to what extent are these APA characteristics invariant across tasks at the individual and group levels?

Methods

15 young adults (mean age: 23.7 (±3.2) years) performed six …

Individuals With Recurrent Low Back Pain Exhibit Significant Changes In Paraspinal Muscle Strength After Intramuscular Fine Wire Electrode Insertion, Szu-Ping Lee, Vincent Dinglasan, Anthony Duong, Russell Totten, Jo Armour Smith

Physical Therapy Faculty Articles and Research

Objective

To examine how insertion and presence of intramuscular fine‐wire electromyography electrodes (IFWE) in lumbar multifidus affect paraspinal muscle strength, endurance, and activation in persons with and without recurrent lower back pain (RLBP) during activities that require high levels of muscle contraction.

Design

Case‐control with randomization of conditions.

Setting

Clinical Research Laboratory.

Participants

Forty participants age 18‐40 were recruited (18 female; mean age = 25.5 yr); 20 with a history of RLBP were compared to a matching control group of 20 without RLBP.

Interventions

Each participant was tested under three conditions over three sessions. On Session 1, the baseline condition, …

Insertion And Presence Of Fine-Wire Intramuscular Electrodes To The Lumbar Paraspinal Muscles Do Not Affect Muscle Performance And Activation During Highexertion Spinal Extension Activities, Szu-Ping Lee, Jo Armour Smith, Matthew Kimber, Kelsey Houk

Physical Therapy Faculty Articles and Research

Background

Low back pain (LBP) is commonly associated with paraspinal muscle dysfunctions. A method to study deep lumbar paraspinal (i.e. multifidus) muscle function and neuromuscular activation pattern is intramuscular electromyography (EMG). Previous studies have shown that the procedure does not significantly impact muscle function during activities involving low-level muscle contractions. However, it is currently unknown how muscular function and activation are affected during high-exertion contractions.

Objective

To examine the effects of insertion and presence of fine-wire EMG electrodes in the lumbar multifidus on muscle strength, endurance, and activation profiles during high-exertion spinal extension muscle contractions.

Design

Single-blinded, repeated measures intervention …

The Role Of Lower Leg Muscle Activity In Blood Pressure Maintenance Of Older Adults, Michelle M. Masterson, Amy L. Morgan, Christine E. Multer, Daniel Cipriani

Physical Therapy Faculty Articles and Research

Purpose. Age-associated muscle weakness, postural instability, and orthostatic hypotension have been identified as contributing factors to falls , but the relationships among them are not clear. Therefore, the purpose of this study, a two-way factorial design, was to investigate the differences in lower extremity (LE) muscle activity, blood pressure (BP), and heart rate (HR) between young and older individuals in an upright position. Methods. Ten young males (20-24 yrs.) and 10 older males (65-82 yrs.) stood for 15 minutes while BP, HR, and LE electromyography (EMG) were recorded at one minute intervals . A two-way ANOVA was used …