Alowa Zaenab, Elsayed Walaa
Department of Physical Therapy, AlJubail General Hospital, Aljubail, Eastern Province, KSA.
Department of Physical Therapy, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, KSA.
J Taibah Univ Med Sci. 2020 Dec 16;16(2):224-230. doi: 10.1016/j.jtumed.2020.10.021. eCollection 2021 Apr.
This study aims to examine the electromyographic activity of the regional spinal muscle between patients with forward head posture (FHP) and those with a normal cranio-vertebral (CV) angle.
We recruited 60 adult women aged between 18 and 29 years from a single institution. The CV angle was measured in the sagittal plane, which helped us to assign the participants in the FHP group (n = 30) with a large CV angle (53.1 ± 2.3) and the control group (n = 30) with a normal CV angle (43.0 ± 3.6). The surface electromyography (EMG) was used to measure the magnitude of normalised muscle activity of eight spinal muscles (cervical, lumbar, and thoracic levels) while standing and performing a specific manual handling task.
The CV angle was significantly lower in the FHP group than in the control group ( = .001). The cervical erector spinae (CES) muscle activity was significantly increased in the FHP group compared to that in the control group. The right and left CES of those in the FHP group exhibited 73% and 87%, respectively, higher normalised muscle activity than those in the control group while performing the manual handling task ( = .001). No significant difference was detected for the thoracic or lumbar segment muscles between groups.
Our results indicate that greater neck muscle demands result from anterior head translation in FHP. This effect is a counterbalance to the reduced CV angle and to support the neck. The increased activity of the neck muscles in FHP could demand more support from the neck muscles and might increase the risk of spinal injuries. Management of FHP is essential to avoid overloading the spinal muscles.
本研究旨在检查头前伸姿势（FHP）患者与正常颅椎（CV）角患者之间局部脊柱肌肉的肌电活动。
我们从单一机构招募了60名年龄在18至29岁之间的成年女性。在矢状面测量CV角，这有助于我们将CV角大（53.1±2.3）的参与者分配到头前伸组（n = 30），将CV角正常（43.0±3.6）的参与者分配到对照组（n = 30）。使用表面肌电图（EMG）测量站立和执行特定手动操作任务时八块脊柱肌肉（颈椎、腰椎和胸椎水平）的标准化肌肉活动幅度。
头前伸组的CV角显著低于对照组（P = .001）。与对照组相比，头前伸组的颈竖脊肌（CES）肌肉活动显著增加。在执行手动操作任务时，头前伸组的右侧和左侧CES分别表现出比对照组高73%和87%的标准化肌肉活动（P = .001）。两组之间的胸段或腰段肌肉未检测到显著差异。
我们的结果表明，头前伸时头部向前平移会导致颈部肌肉需求增加。这种效应是对CV角减小的一种平衡，以支撑颈部。头前伸时颈部肌肉活动增加可能需要颈部肌肉更多的支撑，并且可能增加脊柱损伤的风险。对头前伸进行管理对于避免脊柱肌肉过载至关重要。
