ArticleJournal of athletic training2020
Lumbar Multifidus Muscle Characteristics, Body Composition, and Injury in University Rugby Players.
Article in Journal of athletic training, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
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.
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.
Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 25 citations in OpenAlex.
- Body Composition Architecture and Injury Topology in Physically Active Young Adults: A Tanglegram-Based Cophylogenetic Approach.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- Morphological and Compositional Features of Lumbar Multifidus in Athletes with Chronic Non-specific Low Back Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.International journal of sports physical therapy · 2026Article
- Association between Body Composition Characteristics and Chronic Low Back Pain in High-School Baseball Players: A Retrospective Study.International journal of sports physical therapy · 2025Article
- Article
- Ultrasonography of the multifidus muscle in student circus artists with and without low back pain: a cross-sectional study.BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation · 2023Article
- Applied sports science and sports medicine in women's rugby: systematic scoping review and Delphi study to establish future research priorities.BMJ open sport & exercise medicine · 2022Article
- Analysis of Teaching Tactics Characteristics of Track and Field Sports Training in Colleges and Universities Based on Deep Neural Network.Computational intelligence and neuroscience · 2022Article
- Ultrasound Imaging Analysis of the Lumbar Multifidus Muscle Echo Intensity: Intra-Rater and Inter-Rater Reliability of a Novice and an Experienced Rater.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
contextA smaller lumbar multifidus (LM) muscle was reported to be a strong predictor of lower limb injury in professional Australian Football League players. However, despite the high prevalence of low back pain (LBP) and lower limb injury in rugby players, their LM characteristics have yet to be explored.
objectiveTo (1) examine LM characteristics in male and female university rugby players and their possible associations with LBP and lower limb injury and (2) investigate the relationship between LM characteristics and body composition in this group of athletes.
designCross-sectional study.
settingUniversity research center. PATIENTS OR OTHER
participantsThirty-four university rugby players (20 women, 14 men). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Ultrasound measurements of LM cross-sectional area (CSA), thickness, and percentage change in thickness during contraction were obtained bilaterally, at the L5-S1 level, in prone and standing positions. Body composition measures were obtained using dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry. Self-reported questionnaires were used to obtain LBP and lower limb injury history.
resultsPlayers who reported LBP in the previous 3 months showed a smaller percentage change in thickness during contraction in the standing position (F = 5.21, P = .03). The LM CSA side-to-side asymmetry (right versus left) was greater in players who reported having a lower limb injury in the previous 12 months (F = 4.98, P = .03). The LM CSA was significantly associated with body composition measurements. A greater percentage change in thickness during contraction was significantly associated with a lower percentage of body fat. The LM echo intensity was strongly associated with the total percentage of body fat and was significantly greater in women.
conclusionsThe influence of body composition on LM morphology in athletes cannot be ignored and warrants further investigation. Our findings also provide preliminary evidence of an association among LM morphology, LBP, and lower limb injury in university rugby players.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.