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The Role of Lumbar Multifidus Characteristics in the Development of Low Back Pain

NCT03387930 · Status: UNKNOWN · Type: OBSERVATIONAL · Enrollment: 140

Last updated 2021-02-10

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Low back pain (LBP) is a severe epidemic in the world. Despite its high prevalence, 90% of the cases have no identifiable cause. Approximately 44% of them experience recurrent LBP within one year and 10% of them develop chronic LBP that lasts for three months or more.

Mechanically, the lumbar spine is unstable and requires spinal muscle to maintain spinal stability and to prevent injuries. Lumbar multifidus (LM) muscle is thought to be the major spinal stabilizer responsible for spinal stability and spinal proprioception. Prior studies have revealed that increased fat infiltration, atrophy or activation deficits of LM in patients with LBP as compared to asymptomatic individuals. Unfortunately, inconsistent findings have also been reported.

Although prior research attempted to determine if abnormal LM characteristics can inform clinical decision-making, their results are limited because they only investigated a single LM characteristic at a time, which might not reflect the actual LM condition. Further, many studies adopted cross-sectional design that could not reveal the casual relations between abnormal LM characteristics and LBP. As such, the current study aims to identify specific LM characteristics that can predict new episode of LBP in asymptomatic individuals, and recurrent/chronic LBP in individuals with LBP at baseline.

Conditions

  • Low Back Pain

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • University of Oulu

    collaborator OTHER

  • The University of Hong Kong

    collaborator OTHER

  • Rush University

    collaborator OTHER

  • Concordia University, Montreal

    collaborator OTHER

  • Zurich University of Applied Sciences

    collaborator OTHER

  • The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Arnold Wong, PhD · The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Max Age
65 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2017-08-01
Primary Completion
2022-03-31
Completion
2022-06-30

Countries

  • Hong Kong

Study Locations

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT03387930 on ClinicalTrials.gov