Lengthening but not shortening history of paraspinal muscle spindles in the low back alters their dynamic sensitivity.

Proprioception is considered important for maintaining spinal stability and for controlling posture and movement in the low back. Previous studies demonstrate the presence of thixotropic properties in lumbar muscle spindles, wherein a vertebra's positional history alters spindle responsiveness to position and movement. This study investigated whether a vertebra's movement history affects the velocity sensitivity of paraspinal muscle spindles in the low back. Afferent activity from multifidus and longissimus muscle spindles was recorded in the L(6) dorsal root in 30 anesthetized cats. To alter movement history, a feedback-controlled motor attached to the L(6) spinous process held (conditioned for 4 s) the L(6) vertebra at an intermediate position or at positions that either lengthened or shortened the muscles. With the vertebra returned to the intermediate position, resting spindle discharge was measured over the next 0.5 s (static test) and then during a dynamic test consisting of ramp vertebral movement at four velocities (0.2, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0 mm/s). Spindle activity during the tests was measured relative to hold-intermediate. For both tests, hold-long decreased and hold-short increased muscle spindle responsiveness. For the static test position responsiveness was not different among the velocity protocols for either hold-long or hold-short (P = 0.42 and 0.24, respectively). During the dynamic test, hold-long conditioning significantly decreased [F((3,119)) = 7.99, P < 0.001] spindle responsiveness to increasing velocity. Mean velocity sensitivity was 4.44, 3.39, and 1.41 (impulses/s)/(mm/s) for the hold-short, hold-intermediate, and hold-long protocols, respectively. The nearly 2.5-fold decrease in velocity sensitivity following hold-long was significantly less than that for either hold-intermediate (P = 0.005) or hold-short conditioning (P < 0.001). Hold-short conditioning had little effect on velocity responses during the dynamic test [F((3,119)) = 0.23, P = 0.87]. In conclusion, only movement histories that stretch but not shorten muscle spindles alter their velocity sensitivity. In the low back, forward flexion and lateral bending postures would likely be the most provocative.