Evidence map›Paper›PMID 29444776›Full record

ArticleBMJ open2018

Association between spectral characteristics of paraspinal muscles and functional disability in patients with low back pain: a cohort study.

Shin-Yi Chiou, Ermis Koutsos, Pantelis Georgiou, Paul H Strutton

Open access · goldAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in BMJ open, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
0.8field-weighted citation impact, top 27% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 12 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Review
  3. Review
  4. Article
  5. Observational
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Shin-Yi ChiouThe Nick Davey Laboratory, Human Performance Group, Division of Surgery, Department of Surgery and Cancer, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, Charing Cross Hospital, London, UK.
Ermis KoutsosDepartment of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Centre for Bio-inspired Technology, Imperial College London, London, UK.
Pantelis GeorgiouDepartment of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Centre for Bio-inspired Technology, Imperial College London, London, UK.
Paul H StruttonThe Nick Davey Laboratory, Human Performance Group, Division of Surgery, Department of Surgery and Cancer, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, Charing Cross Hospital, London, UK.ORCID 0000-0002-5202-099X
Charing Cross Hospital · GBImperial College London · GB

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesCharacteristics of muscle activity, represented by surface electromyography (EMG), have revealed differences between patients with low back pain (LBP) and healthy adults; how they relate to functional and clinical parameters remains unclear. The purpose of the current study was to examine the correlation between frequency characteristics of EMG (analysed using continuous wavelet transform (CWT) analysis) and patients' self-rated score of disability. DESIGN AND

settingThis is a case-control study with 15 patients with mechanical LBP without radicular symptoms. Patients were recruited from the orthopaedic clinic at Charing Cross Hospital. Ten healthy adults were recruited from the staff working in the hospital and associated university. Patients completed the Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire (RMDQ) and bilateral EMG activity was obtained from erector spinae at vertebral levels L4 and T12. Subjects performed three brief maximal voluntary isometric contractions (MVICs) of the back extensors and the torque was measured using a dynamometer. CWT was applied to the EMG signals of each muscle in a 200 ms window centred around the peak torque obtained during the MVICs. The ratio (low/high frequencies) of the energy, the peak power and the frequency of the peak power were calculated for each recording site, averaged and correlated with the individual's RMDQ score.

resultsPatients had lower peak power (T12 and L4) and lower frequency of the peak power (at T12) than the healthy adults. Additionally, RMDQ positively correlated to the average ratio of energy at T12 (r=0.63; p=0.012), that is, greater self-rated disability corresponded to a dominant distribution of energy in the lower frequencies.

conclusionThe current findings reveal alterations in EMG profile and its association with self-related back pain disability, suggesting that spectral characteristics of EMG reflect muscle function.

Indexed as

BackAdultCase-Control StudiesCohort StudiesDiagnostic Self EvaluationElectromyographyFemaleHumansLow Back PainMaleMiddle AgedMovementMuscle ContractionMuscle StrengthParaspinal MusclesSpineback painelectromyographyisometrictrunk muscleswavelet transform

Identifiers

PMID29444776
PMCPMC5829836
OpenAlexW2790595479

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.