An investigation into the relevance of the pattern of temporal activation with respect to erector spinae muscle endurance

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the viability of a relationship between the temporal activation pattern of parts of the erector spinae muscle and endurance. Seven subjects performed intermittent isometric contractions [4s at 70% maximal voluntary contraction (MVC), 2 s rest] until exhaustion, during which the electromyographical (EMG) activity of the multifidus, iliocostalis thoracis and longissimus muscle segments was recorded. Endurance was defined as the time until exhaustion. Subjects were divided into a high and a low endurance group. The high endurance group showed significantly more variability of EMG amplitude over succeeding contractions. This group demonstrated significantly more alternations of EMG activity between parts of the muscle also. Variability of the EMG amplitude within the contractions did not differ between the groups, nor did MVC. The results indicated that alternating activity between different parts of the erector spinae muscle may function to postpone exhaustion of this muscle as a whole.

Postural strategy and trunk muscle activation during prolonged standing in chronic low back pain patients

“…Mean ( In accordance with previous findings there was a moderate, but mostly just statistically not significant relation between temporal variation within the muscles and MDF and RPE (van Dieën et al, 1993).…”

“…Spatial (Holtermann et al, 2010; and temporal (van Dieën et al, 1993;) variability in muscle activation are related to the rate of fatigue development. Moreover, females have been observed to be more fatigue resistant compared to men, and possible mechanisms for this gender difference include factors related to muscle mass, substrate utilization, muscle morphology, and neuromuscular activation patterns (Hicks et al, 2001;.…”

“…In addition, fatigue prevention and pain intensity are shown to be inversely related to the frequency of differential activation between the heads of the biceps brachii muscle and parts of the trapezius muscle, respectively (Holtermann et al, 2010(Holtermann et al, , 2011. Such a use of mechanical redundancy has been suggested to prevent or delay fatigue development also in lumbar muscles by alternating activity between muscle parts or synergistic muscles van Dieën et al, 1993), but has so far not been investigated in detail during low force contractions. Moreover, lumbar activation and fatigue during sustained low force contractions have rarely been studied, despite that muscle activation and fatigue have been linked to low back pain for decades De Luca, 1993; studies addressing this (Farina et al, 2003;).…”

The effect of work pace on workload, motor variability and fatigue during simulated light assembly work

“…Bosch et al showed that more variability in the EMG amplitude of the back extensor muscles resulted in less fatigue development, consistent with an earlier finding that participants with a better ability to alternate activity between parts of the lumbar extensor muscles had better endurance in isometric back extension (van Diee¨n et al 1993). Some authors have even suggested that individuals who are able to effectively utilise intrinsic opportunities to obtain motor variability are less susceptible to musculoskeletal disorders (Kilbom 1994, Mathiassen and Aminoff 1997, Mathiassen 2006, Madeleine et al 2008a.…”

“…Laboratory studies have suggested that individuals differ in the size of this motor variability and that a larger variability is associated with attenuated development of fatigue (van Diee¨n et al 1993, Mathiassen and Aminoff 1997, Farina et al 2008. Motor control research even suggests that variability can be trainable (Wilson et al 2008).…”