An investigation into motor pattern differences used during prone hip extension between subjects with and without low back pain

Proximal and distal contributions to lower extremity injury: A review of the literature

“…Investigations of kinematic changes occurring with poor core strength support a pathomechanical model of femoral adduction leading to frontal plane pelvic drop [85] and internal hip rotation [83] with an internally rotated and adducted knee position during single leg weightbearing [86][87][88][89][90][91]. This model may also have implications for more distal biomechanical function and is proposed to produce tightness in the tensor fascia lata and iliotibial band, predisposing to a number of lower limb injuries at the knee and more distally [19,22,25,66,95]. Evidence of effective lower limb injury management following core strengthening programs targeting hip muscle strength strongly supports the role of proximal dysfunction in the development of lower limb injury [22,87].…”

Influence of Gluteus Maximus Inhibition on Upper Trapezius Overactivity in Chronic Mechanical Neck Pain With Radiculopathy

“…The previous studies which had been published pertaining to the motor patterns used during PHE used techniques varying from a visual evaluation of the signal by the researcher(s) to the use of mathematical algorithms calculating the onset as the sample at which the signal exceeds a certain percentage of the peak EMG activity or a certain number of standard deviations above a baseline average [11,16,28]. Thus if this study is repeated but with other methods of calculating amplitude and onset time there may be different results, so further research is recommended with another methodology and with a control group of normal participants not complaining of neck pain.…”

“…This inappropriate activation of the gluteus maximus in gait is thought to be a cause of low back pain (LBP), resulting in a deficiency in the shock absorption mechanism at the sacroiliac joint [10,11]. Page et al [8] suggested that more inactivation and or inhibition of the GM muscle lead to abnormal sequence of muscle contraction in hip extension movement pattern during gait.…”

“…The majority of previous studies have evaluated the timing of muscle activity through prone hip extension (PHE) in LBP patients to identify the order in which the muscles are activated during this motor pattern [11,12,13]. A common and widely accepted test for measuring the muscular activation pattern in the lumbo-pelvic area is PHE [12].…”

An Investigation of Neck Muscle Activity in Asymptomatic Participants Who Show Different Lumbar Spine Motion Patterns During Prone Hip Extension

“…However, the amount of research quantifying its clinical usefulness in these areas is sparse. The reliability and validity of determining motor patterns during PHE via observation or palpation have never been investigated, and the results of several studies [5][6][7][8][9] raise serious doubts as to whether these 2 parameters could be expected to be of an acceptable level to recommend the use of the PHE test for this purpose in clinical practice. In addition, these results also raise concerns regarding how useful the information gleaned from the test would be to clinicians as no "normal" nor "abnormal" activation orders seem to exist.…”