Department of Electrical Engineering, National Chi Nan University, Nantou, Taiwan, ROC.
PLoS One. 2013 Apr 22;8(4):e61639. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0061639. Print 2013.
This study aims to investigate the electrical properties of lumbar paraspinal muscles (LPM) of patients with acute lower back pain (LBP) and to study a new approach, namely Electrical Impedance Myography (EIM), for reliable, low-cost, non-invasive, and real-time assessment of muscle-strained acute LBP.
Patients with muscle-strained acute LBP (n = 30) are compared to a healthy reference group (n = 30). Electrical properties of LPM are studied.
EIM is a novel technique under development for the assessment of neuromuscular disease. Therefore, it is speculated that EIM can be employed for the assessment of muscle-strained acute LBP.
Surface electrodes, in 2-electrode configurations, was used to measure the electrical properties of patient's and healthy subject's LPM at six different frequencies (0.02, 25.02, 50.02, 1000.02, 3000.02, and 5000.02 kHz), with the amplitude of the applied voltage limited to 200 mV. Parameters of impedance (Z), extracellular resistance (Re), intracellular resistance (Ri), and the ratio of extracellular resistance to intracellular resistance (Re/Ri) of LBP patient's and healthy subject's LPM were assessed to see if significant difference in values obtained in muscle-strained acute LBP patients existed.
Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) showed that all measurements (ICC>0.96 for all studying parameters: Z, Re, Ri, and Re/Ri) had good reliability and validity. Significant differences were found on Z between LBP patient's and healthy subject's LPM at all studying frequencies, with p<0.05 for all frequencies. It was also found that Re (p<0.05) and Re/Ri (p<0.05) of LBP patient's LPM was significant smaller than that of healthy subjects while Ri (p<0.05) of LBP patient's LPM was significant greater than that of healthy subjects. No statistical significant difference was found between the left and right LPM of LBP patients and healthy subjects on the four studying parameters.
EIM is a promising technique for assessing muscle-strained acute LBP.
本研究旨在探究急性腰痛（LBP）患者腰旁肌（LPM）的电学特性，并研究一种新方法，即电阻抗肌描记法（EIM），以实现对肌肉拉伤性急性 LBP 的可靠、低成本、非侵入性和实时评估。
将肌肉拉伤性急性 LBP 患者（n=30）与健康对照组（n=30）进行比较。研究 LPM 的电学特性。
EIM 是一种用于评估神经肌肉疾病的新技术。因此，推测 EIM 可用于评估肌肉拉伤性急性 LBP。
采用 2 电极配置的表面电极，以 6 个不同频率（0.02、25.02、50.02、1000.02、3000.02 和 5000.02 kHz）测量患者和健康受试者 LPM 的电学特性，施加电压的幅度限制在 200 mV 以内。评估 LBP 患者和健康受试者 LPM 的阻抗（Z）、细胞外电阻（Re）、细胞内电阻（Ri）和细胞外电阻与细胞内电阻之比（Re/Ri）等参数，以确定肌肉拉伤性急性 LBP 患者的数值是否存在显著差异。
组内相关系数（ICC）显示，所有测量值（所有研究参数的 ICC>0.96：Z、Re、Ri 和 Re/Ri）均具有良好的可靠性和有效性。在所有研究频率下，LBP 患者 LPM 的 Z 值与健康受试者之间存在显著差异，所有频率下的 p 值均<0.05。还发现，LBP 患者 LPM 的 Re（p<0.05）和 Re/Ri（p<0.05）显著小于健康受试者，而 Ri（p<0.05）显著大于健康受试者。LBP 患者左右 LPM 的四个研究参数在统计学上与健康受试者之间无显著差异。
EIM 是一种有前途的评估肌肉拉伤性急性 LBP 的技术。
