Muscle Atrophy Measurement as Assessment Method for Low Back Pain Patients

Adv Exp Med Biol. 2018:1088:437-461. doi: 10.1007/978-981-13-1435-3_20.

Abstract

Low back pain is one of the most common pain disorders defined as pain, muscle tension, or stiffness localized below the costal margin and above the inferior gluteal folds, sometimes with accompanying leg pain. The meaning of the symptomatic atrophy of paraspinal muscles and some pelvic muscles has been proved. Nowadays, a need for new diagnostic tools for specific examination of low back pain patients is posited, and it has been proposed that magnetic resonance imaging assessment toward muscle atrophy may provide some additional information enabling the subclassification of that group of patients.

Keywords: Gluteus muscles; Low back-related leg pain; Multifidus; Muscle atrophy.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Humans
  • Low Back Pain / diagnostic imaging*
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging*
  • Muscular Atrophy / physiopathology*
  • Pain Measurement
  • Paraspinal Muscles / pathology*