Associations between gait performance and pain intensity, psychosocial factors, executive functions as well as prefrontal cortex activity in chronic low back pain patients: A cross-sectional fNIRS study

Toan Nguyen; Martin Behrens; Kim-Charline Broscheid; Robert Bielitzki; Saskia Weber; Saskia Libnow; Victoria Malczewski; Lukas Baldauf; Xenia Milberger; Lena Jassmann; Anne Wustmann; Katharina Meiler; Steffen Drange; Jörg Franke; Lutz Schega

doi:10.3389/fmed.2023.1147907

Associations between gait performance and pain intensity, psychosocial factors, executive functions as well as prefrontal cortex activity in chronic low back pain patients: A cross-sectional fNIRS study

Front Med (Lausanne). 2023 May 5:10:1147907. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2023.1147907. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Sport Science, Institute III, Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany.
² Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Klinikum Magdeburg gGmbH, Magdeburg, Germany.

Abstract

Introduction: Activities of daily living, such as walking, are impaired in chronic low back pain (CLBP) patients compared to healthy individuals. Thereby, pain intensity, psychosocial factors, cognitive functioning and prefrontal cortex (PFC) activity during walking might be related to gait performance during single and dual task walking (STW, DTW). However, to the best of our knowledge, these associations have not yet been explored in a large sample of CLBP patients.

Method: Gait kinematics (inertial measurement units) and PFC activity (functional near-infrared spectroscopy) during STW and DTW were measured in 108 CLBP patients (79 females, 29 males). Additionally, pain intensity, kinesiophobia, pain coping strategies, depression and executive functioning were quantified and correlation coefficients were calculated to determine the associations between parameters.

Results: The gait parameters showed small correlations with acute pain intensity, pain coping strategies and depression. Stride length and velocity during STW and DTW were (slightly to moderately) positively correlated with executive function test performance. Specific small to moderate correlations were found between the gait parameters and dorsolateral PFC activity during STW and DTW.

Conclusion: Patients with higher acute pain intensity and better coping skills demonstrated slower and less variable gait, which might reflect a pain minimization strategy. Psychosocial factors seem to play no or only a minor role, while good executive functions might be a prerequisite for a better gait performance in CLBP patients. The specific associations between gait parameters and PFC activity during walking indicate that the availability and utilization of brain resources are crucial for a good gait performance.

Keywords: PFC; near-infrared spectroscopy; pain coping; single task and dual task walking; spatio-temporal gait parameters.