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Muscle recruitment and co-contraction when walking in young women with chronic lumbar pain

Recrutamento e cocontração muscular durante a marcha em mulheres jovens com dor lombar crônica

Reclutamiento y co-contracción muscular durante la marcha en mujeres jóvenes con dolor lombar crónica

Abstract

Introduction:

The lumbar pain is the main musculoskeletal complaint reported by the active population, and it prevents daily activities such as walking.

Objective:

To assess muscle recruitment and the co-contraction of the trunk muscles during different walking speed in individuals with and without chronic lumbar pain.

Method:

Thirty-four sedentary young women attended the study, in which 18 belonged to the lumbar pain team (LPT) and 16 to the team without lumbar pain (WLP). We assessed the electromyography activity of the internal oblique (IO) local muscle and lumbar multifidus (MUL), and global external oblique (EO), abdominal rectus (AR) and lumbar iliocostalis (LIC), during walking. The electromyography analysis was performed from the average of the linear envelope value, normalized by the peak of muscle activation. The muscle co-contraction (IO/MUL, EO/LIC, AR/LIC, IO/EO, and the abdominal/paravertebral muscle groups) was calculated with the Falconer and Winter formula. The Shapiro-Wilk test, Multivariate Analysis, mixed Variance Analyses with Bonferroni post-hoc, and Pearson (p < 0.05) correlation coefficient were made by the statistical analysis.

Results:

In the WLP we could notice that the higher the speed, the higher the MUL activation. The co-contraction data demonstrated that IO/MUL muscles activate 20% more in the LPT, during the preferred speed; however, in the WLP, the results showed that the higher the walking speed, the higher the EO/LIC (21.8%) and IO/MUL (17.8%) muscles activation.

Conclusion:

The recruitment of local muscles doesn’t differ among the evaluated groups and conditions; however, in WLP, the higher the MUL muscle action, the higher the walking speed.

Keywords:
Lumbar Pain; Electromyography; Walking; Applied Kinesiology

Resumo

Introdução:

A dor lombar (DL) é a principal queixa musculoesquelética relatada na população ativa e incapacita atividades do cotidiano, como a marcha.

Objetivo:

Avaliar o recrutamento e co-contração dos músculos do tronco durante diferentes velocidades de marcha em indivíduos com e sem DL crônica.

Método:

Participaram 34 mulheres jovens, sedentárias, 18 compuseram o grupo DL (GDL) e 16 o grupo sem DL (GC). Foi avaliada a atividade eletromiográfica dos músculos locais oblíquo interno (OI) e multífido lombar (MUL), e globais oblíquo externo (OE), reto abdominal (RA) e iliocostal lombar (ICL), durante a marcha. A análise eletromiográfica foi realizada a partir da média do valor de envelope linear, normalizada pelo pico de ativação muscular. A co-contração muscular (OI/MUL, OE/ICL, RA/ICL, OI/OE e os grupos musculares abdominais/ paravertebrais) foi calculada com a fórmula de Falconer e Winter. A análise estatística foi feita por meio do teste Shapiro-Wilk, Análise Multivariada, Análise de Variância mista com pos-hoc bonferroni e coeficiente de correlação de Pearson (p < 0,05).

Resultados:

No GC podemos perceber que, quanto maior a velocidade, maior a ativação do MUL. Os dados de co-contração demonstraram que os músculos OI/MUL ativam 20% a mais no GDL, durante a velocidade de preferência, no GC, os resultados mostram que quanto maior a velocidade de marcha, maior a ativação dos músculos OE/ICL (21,8%) e OI/MUL (17,8%).

Conclusão:

O recrutamento dos músculos não difere entre os grupos e condições, contudo foi observado no GC que quanto maior a ação do músculo MUL maior é a velocidade de marcha.

Palavras-chave:
Dor Lombar; Eletromiografia; Marcha; Cinesiología Aplicada

Resumen

Introducción:

El dolor lumbar (DL) es la principal queja musculoesquelética relatada e incapacita actividades de lo cotidiano, como la marcha.

Objetivo:

Evaluar el reclutamiento y la co-contracción músculos del tronco durante diferentes velocidades de marcha en individuos con y sin DL.

Método:

Participaron 34 mujeres jóvenes, sedentarias, 18 compusieron grupo DL (GDL) y 16 grupo sin DL (GC). Se evaluó la actividad electromiográfica de los músculos oblicuo interno (OI) y externos (OE), multífido lumbar (MUL), recto abdominal (RA) e iliocostal lumbar (ICL) durante la marcha. El análisis electromiográfico fue realizado a partir del promedio del valor de sobre lineal, normalizado por el pico de activación muscular. La cocontracción muscular (OI/MUL, OE/ICL, RA/ICL, OI/OE y grupos de músculos abdominales/paravertebrales) se calculó utilizando la fórmula Falconer y Winter. El análisis estadístico fue realizado por Shapiro-Wilk, Análisis Multivariado, Análisis de Variedad mixta con pos-hoc bonferroni y coeficiente de correlación de Pearson (p < 0,05).

Resultados:

En el GC podemos percibir que, cuanto mayor es la velocidad, mayor es la activación del MUL. Los datos de co-contracción demostraron que los músculos OI/MUL activan un 20% más en el GDL, durante la velocidad de preferencia, sin embargo, en el GC, los resultados muestran que cuanto mayor la velocidad de marcha, mayor la activación de los músculos OE / ICL (21,8%) y OI/MUL (17,8%).

Conclusión:

El reclutamiento de los músculos no difiere entre los grupos y condiciones, contenido observado en el GC que cuanto mayor es la acción del músculo MUL mayor es la velocidad de marcha.

Palabras clave:
Dolor de la Región Lumbar; Electromiografia; Marcha; Quinesiología Aplicada

Introduction

The lumbar pain [LP] is the main physical complaint reported by the active population 11 Watanabe M, Kaneoka K, Okubo Y, Shiina I, Tatsumura M, Miyakawa S. Trunk muscle activity while lifting objects of unexpected weight. Physiotherapy. 2013;99(1):78-83. and mainly in voluntary activities, in which 80% of them evolve with symptom remission, while 20% become chronic 22 Deyo RA, Phillips WR. Low back pain: a primary care challenge. Spine. 1996;21(24):2826-32.. The high incidence of LP in the population results in an increase in health expenses and longer work leave time 33 Salvetti MDG, Pimenta CADM, Braga PE, Corrêa CF. Disability related to chronic low back pain: prevalence and associated factors. Rev Esc Enferm USP. 2012;46(Spec):16-23.. To perform several different daily activities (DA), we need some systems that maintain spine stability and consequently keep it healthy 44 Rossi DM, Morcelli MH, Marques NR, Hallal CZ, Gonçalves M, LaRoche DP, et al. Antagonist coactivation of trunk stabilizer muscles during Pilates exercises. J Bodyw Mov Ther. 2014;18(1):34-41..

The spine stabilization is performed through the active, passive, and neural systems that simultaneously act and control movements 44 Rossi DM, Morcelli MH, Marques NR, Hallal CZ, Gonçalves M, LaRoche DP, et al. Antagonist coactivation of trunk stabilizer muscles during Pilates exercises. J Bodyw Mov Ther. 2014;18(1):34-41.. The muscles belong to the active system and stabilize the vertebral segments 55 Bergmark A. Stability of the lumbar spine: a study in mechanical engineering. Acta Orthop Scand. 1989;60(Suppl. 230):1-54.. They can be split into local and global stabilizers, according to their functions 44 Rossi DM, Morcelli MH, Marques NR, Hallal CZ, Gonçalves M, LaRoche DP, et al. Antagonist coactivation of trunk stabilizer muscles during Pilates exercises. J Bodyw Mov Ther. 2014;18(1):34-41.), (55 Bergmark A. Stability of the lumbar spine: a study in mechanical engineering. Acta Orthop Scand. 1989;60(Suppl. 230):1-54.. The local stabilizer muscles are unisegmental and promote intervertebral control; the internal oblique (IO) and the lumbar multifidus (MUL) muscles belong to this system 55 Bergmark A. Stability of the lumbar spine: a study in mechanical engineering. Acta Orthop Scand. 1989;60(Suppl. 230):1-54.), (66 Panjabi M. The stabilizing system of the spine: Part I. Function, dysfunction, adaptation, and enhancement. J Spinal Disord. 1992;5(4):383-9.. The global stabilizer muscles present moving characteristics, with torque production and are compound by external oblique (EO), abdominal rectus (AR), and lumbar iliocostal (LIC) muscles 44 Rossi DM, Morcelli MH, Marques NR, Hallal CZ, Gonçalves M, LaRoche DP, et al. Antagonist coactivation of trunk stabilizer muscles during Pilates exercises. J Bodyw Mov Ther. 2014;18(1):34-41.)-(66 Panjabi M. The stabilizing system of the spine: Part I. Function, dysfunction, adaptation, and enhancement. J Spinal Disord. 1992;5(4):383-9..

During dynamic movements, stability is challenged all the time, and the muscle co-contraction is one of the mechanisms that the central nervous system (CNS) has to stabilize a certain segment 66 Panjabi M. The stabilizing system of the spine: Part I. Function, dysfunction, adaptation, and enhancement. J Spinal Disord. 1992;5(4):383-9.)- (99 McGill SM, Grenier S, Kavcic N, Cholewicki J. Coordination of muscle activity to assure stability of the lumbar spine. J Electromyogr Kinesiol. 2003;13(4):353-9.. Walking is a dynamic task with high frequency during the day, and as far as it is known, in the presence of chronic lumbar pain (CLP) the individuals present lower amplitude of the articular movement, rigidity, shorter step length, higher step width 1010 Lamoth CJC, Daffertshofer A, Meijer OG, Beek PJ. How do persons with chronic low back pain speed up and slow down? Trunk-pelvis coordination and lumbar erector spinae activity during gait. Gait Posture. 2006;23(2):230-9.), (1111 Hicks GE, Sions JM, Coyle PC, Pohlig RT. Altered spatiotemporal characteristics of gait in older adults with chronic low back pain. Gait Posture. 2017;55:172-6. and shorter walking speed. These are predictors of the individual physical conditions, once the preferred speed refers to the characteristics of the daily life rhythm, while the fast walking refers to the adaptation capacity to the efforts 1111 Hicks GE, Sions JM, Coyle PC, Pohlig RT. Altered spatiotemporal characteristics of gait in older adults with chronic low back pain. Gait Posture. 2017;55:172-6., thus culminating in functional limitation, inability, and pain 1212 Gombatto SP, Brock T, DeLork A, Jones G, Madden E, Rinere C. Lumbar spine kinematics during walking in people with and people without low back pain. Gait Posture. 2015;42(4):539-44..

Therefore, this work’s objective was to assess the recruitment and co-contraction of the trunk muscles during different walking speeds, in individuals with and without CLP. We hypothesize that the participants with CLP will have lower walking speed, higher muscle recruitment, and higher trunk muscle co-contraction when compared to the control team.

Methods

Transversal, quantitative study approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Faculdade de Filosofia e Ciências, UNESP Marília campus (no. 0863/2013). We informed all participants about the research, and they signed the Informed Consent Form. The collection was performed at the campus of Faculdade de Filosofia e Ciências, UNESP Marília campus.

Participants

Thirty-four sedentary women attended the survey, aging from 18 to 27 years old; from which 18 composed the chronic lumbar pain team (LPT) and 16 composed the control team (CT), see Table 1.

Table 1
Sample characterization. Data presented in average and standard deviation (average ± SD)

The criteria for LPT eligibility were to be female, sedentary for at least six months, with at least two idiopathic episodes of lumbar region pain in the last three months 1313 Morita AK, Marques NR, Navega MT. Neuromuscular control strategies of the trunk antagonist muscles during the Biering-Sorensen test in individuals with recurrent low back pain and healthy subjects. Motriz Rev Educ Fis. 2016; 22(4):266-71.. The inclusion criteria were the same for WLP; however, the participants should not have presented episodes of lumbar pain in the last three months. The non-eligibility criteria were treatment with anti-inflammatory or analgesic in the last 72 hours; with nervous compression signal 1212 Gombatto SP, Brock T, DeLork A, Jones G, Madden E, Rinere C. Lumbar spine kinematics during walking in people with and people without low back pain. Gait Posture. 2015;42(4):539-44., ankylosing spondylitis, rheumatoid arthritis, tumor presence in the spine, vertebral fracture, equine tail syndrome 1414 Dingwell JB, Marin LC. Kinematic variability and local dynamic stability of upper body motions when walking at different speeds. J Biomech. 2006;39(3):444-52., BMI higher than 29.99 kg/m2 (1515 Anders C, Scholle HC, Wagner H, Puta C, Grassme R, Petrovitch A. Trunk muscle co-ordination during gait: Relationship between muscle function and acute low back pain. Pathophysiology. 2005;12(4):243-7. and not to be able to perform 120o of trunk flexion.

A pilot study with four volunteers in each team performed the sample calculation. The used variable was of co-contraction of IO/MUL muscles for the condition 1 of walking, with the power of 0.80, error probability α of 0.05, effect size of 0.875, estimating the need of thirty-four volunteers as a whole.

Procedures

Data collection consisted of the evaluation of the pain intensity at the lumbar region, and the electromyography during walking. The Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) measured the pain intensity; it was verified with a ruler from “without pain/discomfort” until “worse pain/discomfort” 1616 Rossi DM, Morcelli MH, Cardozo AC, Denadai BS, Gonçalves M, Navega MT. Discriminant analysis of neuromuscular variables in chronic low back pain. J Back Musculoskelet Rehabil. 2015;28(2):239-46.. We requested the participants to mark the pain intensity felt at the collection moment and the daily pain intensity to quantify the value obtained in the test 1616 Rossi DM, Morcelli MH, Cardozo AC, Denadai BS, Gonçalves M, Navega MT. Discriminant analysis of neuromuscular variables in chronic low back pain. J Back Musculoskelet Rehabil. 2015;28(2):239-46.. The walking was evaluated during the ten first cycles in two conditions. The tests were randomly performed to avoid the execution order interfered with the results 77 Candotti CT, Carvalho KV, La Torre M, Noll M, Varela M. Ativação e co-contração dos músculos gastrocnêmio e tibial anterior na marcha de mulheres utilizando diferentes alturas de saltos. Rev Bras Cienc Espor. 2012;34(1):27-39., break of two minutes between the conditions and familiarization with the preferred speed for five minutes 77 Candotti CT, Carvalho KV, La Torre M, Noll M, Varela M. Ativação e co-contração dos músculos gastrocnêmio e tibial anterior na marcha de mulheres utilizando diferentes alturas de saltos. Rev Bras Cienc Espor. 2012;34(1):27-39.. We guided the volunteers not to use the support base of the treadmill handles and to remain barefoot during the collection 1515 Anders C, Scholle HC, Wagner H, Puta C, Grassme R, Petrovitch A. Trunk muscle co-ordination during gait: Relationship between muscle function and acute low back pain. Pathophysiology. 2005;12(4):243-7..

To determine the preferred speed used at the treadmill, a speed evaluation on the floor was initially used , where the participants walked on a 20-meter track, and the time used to walk the central 10 meters was measured, deducing the initial and final 5 meters 77 Candotti CT, Carvalho KV, La Torre M, Noll M, Varela M. Ativação e co-contração dos músculos gastrocnêmio e tibial anterior na marcha de mulheres utilizando diferentes alturas de saltos. Rev Bras Cienc Espor. 2012;34(1):27-39.. The test was performed three times, and the average value was defined as the floor walking preferred speed 77 Candotti CT, Carvalho KV, La Torre M, Noll M, Varela M. Ativação e co-contração dos músculos gastrocnêmio e tibial anterior na marcha de mulheres utilizando diferentes alturas de saltos. Rev Bras Cienc Espor. 2012;34(1):27-39.. It was used 50% of the preferred speed on the floor to start the test on the treadmill; this speed was gradually increased until the participant refers that it was “faster than usual” 1717 Marques NR, LaRoche DP, Hallal CZ, Crozara LF, Morcelli MH, Karuka AH, et al. Association between energy cost of walking, muscle activation, and biomechanical parameters in older female fallers and non-fallers. Clin Biomech. 2013;28(3):330-6.. After reaching this mark, the speed was gradually decreased until the participants referred that it was “slower than the usual one” 1717 Marques NR, LaRoche DP, Hallal CZ, Crozara LF, Morcelli MH, Karuka AH, et al. Association between energy cost of walking, muscle activation, and biomechanical parameters in older female fallers and non-fallers. Clin Biomech. 2013;28(3):330-6.. The test was performed three times and used the average of 6 values to determine the preferred speed on treadmill 1414 Dingwell JB, Marin LC. Kinematic variability and local dynamic stability of upper body motions when walking at different speeds. J Biomech. 2006;39(3):444-52.), (1717 Marques NR, LaRoche DP, Hallal CZ, Crozara LF, Morcelli MH, Karuka AH, et al. Association between energy cost of walking, muscle activation, and biomechanical parameters in older female fallers and non-fallers. Clin Biomech. 2013;28(3):330-6.. The second condition evaluated was during the maximum speed on the treadmill. To determine this value, we guided the volunteers to walk at the fastest speed possible without running 1818 LaRoche DP, Millett ED, Kralian RJ. Low strength is related to diminished ground reaction forces and walking performance in older women. Gait Posture. 2011;33(4):668-72..

Electromyography

We collected the electromyographic data during the walking on an INBRAMED® ergometric treadmill. Data about the dominance of lower members were collected to define the side the electrodes should be positioned for the electromyographic evaluation. The dominance was evaluated by tests of going up and down a step, kicking a ball at the target, and by the former displacement test 1919 Hoffman M, Schrader J, Applegate T, Koceja D. Unilateral postural control of the functionally dominant and nondominant extremities of healthy subjects. J Athl Train. 1998;33(4):319-22.. We used an acquisition module of biological signals Model MyosystemBr1_P84 (Data Hominis®) of 8 channels, software MyosistemBr1® to capture the electromyographic signals. This module was used for the collection, real-time visualization, data storing and processing, calibrated with sample frequency of 2000 Hz, total gain of 2000 times (20 times in the sensor and 100 times on the equipment), and rejection index of common way of 92 dB to 60 Hz.

The skin was previously prepared by performing a trichotomy with a razor blade on the region where the electrodes were placed; the cleanliness of the area was made with alcohol and the abrasion with gauze to decrease the impedance on the region 2020 Hermens HJ, Freriks B, Merletti R, Stegeman D, Blok J, Rau G, et al. European recommendations for surface electromyography. Enschede: Roessingh; 1999. p. 8-11.. We used electrodes of the active surface of Ag/AgCl (Data Hominis®) formed by two rectangular bars (10 × 1 mm) and distant 10 mm from each other, fixed with adhesive tape on the skin. A reference electrode was positioned over the ulnar styloid process 44 Rossi DM, Morcelli MH, Marques NR, Hallal CZ, Gonçalves M, LaRoche DP, et al. Antagonist coactivation of trunk stabilizer muscles during Pilates exercises. J Bodyw Mov Ther. 2014;18(1):34-41., and the surface electrodes were positioned on the dominant side 1919 Hoffman M, Schrader J, Applegate T, Koceja D. Unilateral postural control of the functionally dominant and nondominant extremities of healthy subjects. J Athl Train. 1998;33(4):319-22..

The participants were in dorsal decubitus for the location and positioning of the electrodes:

- IO: 2 cm medial and inferior to the anteroposterior iliac spine (EIAS) 2121 Marshall P, Murphy B. The validity and reliability of surface EMG to assess the neuromuscular response of the abdominal muscles to rapid limb movement. J Electromyogr Kinesiol. 2003;13(5):477-89..

- AR: ½ the distance between the xiphoid process and the umbilical scar, 3 cm lateral 2222 Burnett AF, Cornelius MW, Dankaerts W, O'Sullivan PB. Spinal kinematics and trunk muscle activity in cyclists: A comparison between healthy controls and non-specific chronic low back pain subjects: a pilot investigation. Man Ther. 2004;9(4):211-9..

- EO: ½ the distance between the EIAS and the inferior region of the rib cage 2323 Marcucci FCI, Cardoso NS, Berteli KS, Garanhani MR, Cardoso JR. Alterações eletromiográficas dos músculos do tronco de pacientes com hemiparesia após acidente vascular encefálico. Arq Neuro-Psiquiatr. 2007;65(3b):900-5..

The participants were in ventral decubitus for the location and positioning of the electrodes:

- MUL: Positioned on the line that links the posterior superior iliac spine and the space between L1 and L2 at the level of L5 2020 Hermens HJ, Freriks B, Merletti R, Stegeman D, Blok J, Rau G, et al. European recommendations for surface electromyography. Enschede: Roessingh; 1999. p. 8-11..

- LIC: 6 cm laterally to the space between the spiny processes of L2-L3 2424 Marques NR, Hallal CZ, Gonçalves M. Padrão de co-ativação dos músculos do tronco durante exercícios com haste oscilatória. Motriz Rev Educ Fis. 2012;18(2):245-52..

Electromyographic analysis

The electromyographic analysis occurred during the walking, along with the ten consecutive stepping cycles, determined from the visual assessment made by the same assessor, of 10 calcaneus touches of the lower limb on the ergometric treadmill. From specific routines on the software Matlab®, the electromyographic signal was filtered through the 4th order high-pass filter Butterworth with cut frequency of 20 Hz and a 4th order low-pass filter Butterworth with cut frequency of 500 Hz. Afterward, the signal was rectified by full-wave and softened with a 4th order low-pass filter Butterworth with a cut frequency of 6 Hz to form the linear envelope. The electromyographic data of the muscular recruitment are in activation average of the linear envelope of 10 stepping cycles and normalized by the activation peak during the walking on treadmill with maximum speed to determine the muscular co-contraction from the percentage calculation of the co-contraction according to the formula of Falconer and Winter 2525 Winter DA. Biomechanics and motor control of human movement. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons; 2009.:

% c o n - c o n = 2 x M a n t a g M A g o n + M a n t a g x 100 %

M agon and M antag represent the moments of the strength of the agonists and antagonists respectively. The co-contraction was performed for the muscles IO/MUL, EO/LIC, AR/LIC, IO/EO and for the abdominal/paravertebral muscle groups (ABD/PARA). To determine the ABD/PARA co-contraction, from the IO, EO, and AR linear envelope, we created a new linear envelope that represents the activation average of the linear envelope referring to the abdominal muscles. For the paravertebral muscles, we performed the same procedure, creating a new linear envelope that represented the activation average of the linear envelope of the MUL and LIC muscles.

Statistical analysis

The software SPSS® analyzed the obtained data. Shapiro-Wilk test verified the normality of the data and we adopted the multivariate analysis, mixed analysis of variance considering the factors team and condition with post-hoc Bonferroni and Person correlation coefficient, considering significant when p < 0.05.

Results

Table 2 shows the walking speed values of both teams. With the main effect for speed p < 0.001 and F = 175.092, for the team p = 0.270 and F = 1.258, and for interaction Team X Condition p = 0.237 and F = 1.509, i.e., there is no significant difference at the walking speed between individuals with or without lumbar pain.

Table 2
Walking speeds. Data presented in average and standard deviation (average ± SD)

Table 3 shows the values regarding the average muscular activation of the muscles EO, IO, MUL, AR, and LIC at the comparison between the teams and between the walking conditions. The main effect was for condition p < 0.001 and F = 46.801, for the team p = 0.481 and F = 0.922 and the interaction Team X Condition p = 0.812 and F = 0.446. The results demonstrated that by increasing the treadmill speed there was an increase in all the muscle recruitment when compared to condition 1 and condition 2 in each team; however, there was no difference between LPT and CT (WLP).

Table 3
Recruitment of the trunk muscles. Data presented in average and standard deviation (average ± SD)

The recruitment results were correlated with the pain level obtained by EVA on the test day and daily on LPT and we observed moderate negative correlation among condition 2, maximum walking speed, EO muscle, and daily pain, which indicates that the higher the EO muscle activation during maximum walking speed, the lower the pain level (r = ₋0.570, p = 0.014). On performing the correlation between the walking speed and the muscular recruitment, there was a significant difference between maximum walking speed and the MUL muscle recruitment at condition 2 for CT, which suggests that the higher the maximum speed, the higher the MUL muscle activation (r = 0.540, p = 0.031).

Table 4 shows the values regarding the co-contraction of the local and global muscles with the main effect for the condition p < 0.001 and F = 12.505, for the team p = 0.273 and F = 1.349 and interaction Team X Condition p = 0.018 and F = 3.290. At the interaction between Team X Condition, the LPT at condition 1 presented co-contraction of IO/MUL 20% higher (p = 0.028). Also, CT presented an increase of 21.8% at the contraction of the muscles EO/LIC (p < 0.001) on comparing conditions 1 and 2. The same also occurs for the muscles IO/MUL (p < 0.001), with an increase of 17.8%.

Table 4
Results of the co-contraction data. They were presented on average and standard deviation (average ± SD)

There was the statistical difference for the correlation data between the level of pain and trunk muscle co-contraction, and the same occurred on correlating the speed values (walking preference and maximum) with the standard co-contraction.

Discussion

Individuals with lumbar pain present stability loss, decreasing in their spine functionality 2626 Peter Reeves N, Narendra KS, Cholewicki J. Spine stability: the six blind men and the elephant. Clin Biomech. 2007;22(3):266-74.. The active trunk stability is guaranteed by the integration of three factors: load-bearing, mobility permission and lesions, and pain prevention 2727 Van Dieën JH, Kingma I, Van Der Bug JCE. Evidence for a role of antagonistic cocontraction in controlling trunk stiffness during lifting. J Biomech. 2003;36(12):1829-36., which are undermined in individuals with lumbar pain. The results showed that the preferred walking speed did not present significant differences between the teams, but this was not seen at the literature review that reports lower preferred speed and maximum walking in the elderly population 1010 Lamoth CJC, Daffertshofer A, Meijer OG, Beek PJ. How do persons with chronic low back pain speed up and slow down? Trunk-pelvis coordination and lumbar erector spinae activity during gait. Gait Posture. 2006;23(2):230-9.. This can occur due to the functional adaptation 1111 Hicks GE, Sions JM, Coyle PC, Pohlig RT. Altered spatiotemporal characteristics of gait in older adults with chronic low back pain. Gait Posture. 2017;55:172-6. that has as characteristic, for example, shorter step length and higher step width 11 Watanabe M, Kaneoka K, Okubo Y, Shiina I, Tatsumura M, Miyakawa S. Trunk muscle activity while lifting objects of unexpected weight. Physiotherapy. 2013;99(1):78-83.. The findings corroborate the literature because the participants of this study are young; with this, the pain may not have interfered with the walking speed.

In this study we observed that for the two walking conditions, there are different activation standards, and with the speed increase, the activation increase of all the muscles of the evaluated trunk (IO, MUL, LIC, EO, and AR). We believed that on performing walks at low speed, there is higher temporal variability in exchange of higher dynamic stability 1313 Morita AK, Marques NR, Navega MT. Neuromuscular control strategies of the trunk antagonist muscles during the Biering-Sorensen test in individuals with recurrent low back pain and healthy subjects. Motriz Rev Educ Fis. 2016; 22(4):266-71.. This way, on increasing the speed and instability, the muscles EO, IO, and AR increase the activation producing higher muscular strength and consequently increasing the rigidity of the trunk muscles and, therefore, increasing the stability 2727 Van Dieën JH, Kingma I, Van Der Bug JCE. Evidence for a role of antagonistic cocontraction in controlling trunk stiffness during lifting. J Biomech. 2003;36(12):1829-36..

MUL muscle showed higher activation with the increase of walking speed and higher co-contraction of the muscles IO/MUL in women with CLP at condition 1 (preferred speed). These data showed that individuals with CLP present segmental instability, which results in higher antagonist co-activation, improving the motor control and the trunk stability 2828 Cholewicki J, Panjabi MM, Khachatryan A. Stabilizing function of trunk flexor-extensor muscles around a neutral spine posture. Spine. 1997;22(19):2207-12.; however, this strategy results in excessive trunk hardening 2929 Van Dieën JH, Selen LPJ, Cholewicki J. Trunk muscle activation in low-back pain patients, an analysis of the literature. J Electromyogr Kinesiol. 2003;13(4):333-51.. These results corroborate the correlation data, which demonstrated that the higher the pain level, the lower the activation of the EO muscle in walking with maximum speed. Thus, the trunk instability increases the pain levels, revealing the LPT susceptibility and its dependence on the global muscles to keep stable 3030 Hodges PW, Coppieters MW, MacDonald D, Cholewicki J. New insight into motor adaptation to pain revealed by a combination of modelling and empirical approaches. Eur J Pain. 2013;17(8):1138-46.. These answers can be caused in individuals with CLP for maintaining the adaptation of the CNS to protect the structures of the spine 3030 Hodges PW, Coppieters MW, MacDonald D, Cholewicki J. New insight into motor adaptation to pain revealed by a combination of modelling and empirical approaches. Eur J Pain. 2013;17(8):1138-46.; however, in the long term, these adaptations overload the spine and cause pain 3131 Marras WS, Ferguson SA, Burr D, Davis KG, Gupta P. Spine loading in patients with low back pain during asymmetric lifting exertions. Spine J. 2004;4(1):64-75..

Regarding the CT, the results showed higher co-contraction for IO/MUL and EO/LIC only at overload moments (condition 2). These are proportional to the increase of co-contraction, demonstrated in the study of Granata and Marras 88 Granata KP, Orishimo KF. Response of trunk muscle coactivation to changes in spinal stability. J Biomech. 2001;34(9):1117-23., i.e., with the increase of the physical effort, there is also an increase in the co-contraction. These data can be confirmed by the correlation results between the recruitment of the MUL muscle at condition two and the amount of maximum walking speed that demonstrated that the MUL muscle increases its contraction, the higher the physical effort. Even at a situation of higher physical requirement, the CNS is reorganized so that the local muscles increase their activation, maintaining the stability, but even though, remaining with values inferior to the ones reached by LPT (8) (30). A previous study analyzed the antagonist activation and co-contraction of the stabilizer muscles after the isometric activation of the IO muscles. I individuals without CLP presented better control of the trunk muscles over individuals with LP 1717 Marques NR, LaRoche DP, Hallal CZ, Crozara LF, Morcelli MH, Karuka AH, et al. Association between energy cost of walking, muscle activation, and biomechanical parameters in older female fallers and non-fallers. Clin Biomech. 2013;28(3):330-6., corroborating our results.

Conclusion

The recruitment of the stabilizer muscles does not differ between the teams at different walking speeds; however, there was higher activation of the muscle MUL at CT at condition 2. Regarding the co-contraction, the muscles IO/MUL showed that LPT needed higher activation during condition 1, while CT increased the activation of the same muscles only at condition 2, as well as increased the recruitment of the muscles EO/LIC.

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Publication Dates

  • Publication in this collection
    17 Feb 2020
  • Date of issue
    2020

History

  • Received
    17 Dec 2018
  • Accepted
    07 Nov 2019
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