Neuromuscular control of walking with chronic low-back pain

The reported association of low-back pain and musculoskeletal disorders contributed to the examination of the lumbar spine and hip extensor activation patterns in back pain sufferers during walking. Seventeen idiopathic low-back pain male subjects and 16 healthy volunteers participated in the study. Hip joint ROMs in the sagittal plane and neuromuscular activities of erector spinae [L3, T12], gluteus maximus and biceps femoris were recorded on one randomly selected body side in each group. Analysis using the Student's t-test revealed significant differences for hip joint range of motion, stride time and significantly earlier onsets of the lumbar spine and hip extensors of the back pain sufferers compared with the healthy controls. It is assumed, that low-back disorders are related to changes of the lumbar spine and hip extensor recruitment pattern. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.