Reliability of Surface Electromyography in the Assessment of Paraspinal Muscle Fatigue: An Updated Systematic Review

Abstract Objective The purpose of this study was to review the literature to determine whether surface electromyography (EMG) is a reliable tool to assess paraspinal muscle fatigue in healthy subjects and in patients with low back pain (LBP). Methods A literature search for the period of 2000 to 201...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of manipulative and physiological therapeutics 2014-09, Vol.37 (7), p.510-521
Main Authors: Mohseni Bandpei, Mohammad A., PhD, Rahmani, Nahid, MSc, PT, Majdoleslam, Basir, PhD, Abdollahi, Iraj, PhD, Ali, Shabnam Shah, MSc, PT, Ahmad, Ashfaq, DPT
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Electromyography
Electromyography - methods
Humans
Low Back Pain
Low Back Pain - physiopathology
Muscle Fatigue
Paraspinal Muscles - physiopathology
Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Reliability
Reproducibility of Results
Review
Systematic
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Abstract Objective The purpose of this study was to review the literature to determine whether surface electromyography (EMG) is a reliable tool to assess paraspinal muscle fatigue in healthy subjects and in patients with low back pain (LBP). Methods A literature search for the period of 2000 to 2012 was performed, using PubMed, ProQuest, Science Direct, EMBASE, OVID, CINAHL, and MEDLINE databases. Electromyography, reliability, median frequency, paraspinal muscle, endurance, low back pain, and muscle fatigue were used as keywords. Results The literature search yielded 178 studies using the above keywords. Twelve articles were selected according to the inclusion criteria of the study. In 7 of the 12 studies, the surface EMG was only applied in healthy subjects, and in 5 studies, the reliability of surface EMG was investigated in patients with LBP or a comparison with a control group. In all of these studies, median frequency was shown to be a reliable EMG parameter to assess paraspinal muscles fatigue. There was a wide variation among studies in terms of methodology, surface EMG parameters, electrode location, procedure, and homogeneity of the study population. Conclusions The results suggest that there seems to be a convincing body of evidence to support the merit of surface EMG in the assessment of paraspinal muscle fatigue in healthy subject and in patients with LBP.
ISSN:0161-4754
1532-6586
DOI:10.1016/j.jmpt.2014.05.006