engleski

Composition of the psoas major muscle in patients with low back pain

AIM: The aim was to investigate the changes of the psoas major muscles Cross Sectional Area (CSA) in patients with low back pain (LBP). Moreover, the aim was to examine association between the morphology of the psoas major muscle and expression of the degenerative changes of lumbar spine in patients with LBP. METHODS: T2- weighted scans for measurements of the CSA were performed on a 42 patients and 49 controls using a 1.5 Tesla superconducting MR system. Measurements were obtained on a modified transverse plane parallel to the referent intervertebral disc at L3/L4, L4/L5 and L5/S1 levels of the lumbar spine, respectively. RESULTS: Patients had bigger CSA of the psoas major muscle than controls at all analyzed levels. At the levels of L3/L4 and L4/L5 intervertebral disc the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). Patients with apparent degenerative changes of the lumbar spine had smaller CSA of the psoas major muscle compared to the patients without apparent changes at the levels of L3/L4 and L4/L5 (P < 0.05). However, CSA of the psoas major muscle in the patients with degenerative changes of lumbar spine was still bigger then the one of the healthy controls. CONCLUSION: Psoas major muscle shows signs of increased activity in LBP patients. Moreover, psoas major muscle also remains active regardless of presence of degenerative changes of the lumbar spine.

Psoas major muscle; Composition; Low back pain

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