Paraspinal muscle control in people with osteoporotic vertebral fracture

Abstract

The high risk of sustaining subsequent vertebral fractures after an initial fracture cannot be explained solely by low bone mass. Extra-osseous factors, such as neuromuscular characteristics may help to explain this clinical dilemma. Elderly women with (n = 11) and without (n = 14) osteoporotic vertebral fractures performed rapid shoulder flexion to perturb the trunk while standing on a flat and short base. Neuromuscular postural responses of the paraspinal muscles at T6 and T12, and deep lumbar multifidus at L4 were recorded using intramuscular electromyography (EMG). Both groups demonstrated bursts of EMG that were initiated either before or shortly after the onset of shoulder flexion (P <..