Key result
Spinal stabilization exercises reduce pain levels by ~26%, interacting with EMG signal entropy.
Why the study?
A general physiological mechanism for entropy and pain or dysfunction following exercise intervention in low back pain is still unknown.
Do 4 weeks of spinal stabilization exercises improve pain and alter EMG entropy levels in subjects with chronic low back pain?
Do 4 weeks of spinal stabilization exercises improve pain and alter EMG entropy levels in subjects with chronic low back pain?
Absolute Event Rate: 2.81% vs 3.8%
p-value: p=0.001
Shannon entropy of EMG signals may be a useful clinical tool to measure pain following spinal stabilization exercises in patients with chronic low back pain.
Spinal stabilization exercises were associated with reduced pain; hypothesis-generating for EMG entropy interaction, requiring RCTs before practice change.
The entropy of electromyography (EMG) signals suggests a possible tool for the clinical assessment of low back pain (LBP). However, a general physiological mechanism for entropy and pain and/or dysfunction following exercise intervention is still unknown. This comparative study investigated the differences between entropy levels of the EMG signals and the slope of median frequency (MF) based on power spectrum analysis in chronic LBP subjects after 4 weeks of spinal stabilization exercises (SSEs). In total, 46 subjects (24 female and 22 male) participated in the exercise program; the EMG signals of their thoracic and lumbar erector spinae muscles were measured. Following the SSEs, the level of pain as measured by the Million Visual Analog Scale decreased significantly from 3.80 to 2.81 (T = 3.42, p = 0.001). The Shannon entropy levels of the EMG signals were not different based on the back muscles (F = 2.86, p = 0.09) but demonstrated a significant interaction with pain level (F = 7.17, p = 0.01). The slope of MF differed among the muscles (F = 12.06, p = 0.01); however, no interaction with the level of pain was found (F = 0.19, p = 0.66). Therefore, the Shannon entropy of the EMG signals might be a useful and valuable clinical tool to measure pain following intervention.
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Lee et al. (2010) studied Chronic low back pain (n=46). Spinal stabilization exercises vs. Baseline (pre-intervention) was evaluated on Pain level measured by the Million Visual Analog Scale (p=0.001). Spinal stabilization exercises for 4 weeks significantly decreased pain levels from 3.80 to 2.81 (p=0.001), with Shannon entropy of EMG signals showing a significant interaction with pain level.
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