Slow patient day —> testing out research EMG

We didn’t have any patients Tuesday afternoon, so the therapist we were working with brought out all the equipment he has for his research. He’s currently doing a project on activation of lumbar multifidus and erector spinae musculature in patients with low back pain. He explained to us that the stabilizers (multifidus) should engage prior to movement (by the erector spinae) when asking the patient to lean forward. Then he has the patient relax for 2 seconds at full forward flexion, where ES should relax while multifidus remain engaged. Then as the patient returns to standing, the ES should fire during the motion, and relax at the end of movement.

He hypothesized that there is a dysfunction in the muscle activity coordination in patients with LBP.

So he brought out all the electrodes and got the program set up for us to try! I did the back setup that he does for his research, and then we tested the activation of Drew’s TA, external oblique and rectus abdominus, to check out recruitment patterns for different muscles.