Innovative Neurophysiological Techniques for Assessing Trunk Muscle Control and Function

授予标题：用于评估躯干肌肉控制和功能的创新神经生理学技术 摘要 运动控制障碍与老年人的腰痛和身体功能下降有关。不幸的是，许多技术来评估运动的神经控制是不可行的，或直接适用于躯干肌肉组织。因此，我们将开发创新的方法来研究这些肌肉。具体来说，我们将致力于开发一种可靠的功能性磁共振成像协议，调查选定的躯干肌肉的运动神经网络的活动（具体目标1）。我们还将开发一种可靠的肌肉功能性MRI（mfMRI）方案，以评估腰骨盆深部肌肉的空间肌肉激活模式（具体目标2）。我们将在四个不同的目标人群中检查这些方法的重测可靠性：健康成人，慢性腰痛成人，老年人和躯干肌肉控制水平高的老年人（即，具有普拉提专业知识的人）。通过招募不同躯干肌肉控制水平、病理状态和年龄的组，我们不仅能够确定个体内可靠性，还能够确定个体间可靠性，因为我们预计测量的变异性会受到体能、疼痛状态和年龄的影响。最后，在探索性目标中，我们将检查目标1和2中的新型神经生理学指标与经典生物力学和肌肉功能指标（例如，躯干伸肌力量、躯干伸肌力量匹配稳定性和静态平衡）。成功开发这种性质的可靠技术将导致新的和改进的研究工具，用于在躯干肌肉控制和功能的背景下进行严格的治疗方法研究，如脊柱操作和瑜伽。

GRANT TITLE: Innovative neurophysiological techniques for assessing trunk muscle control and function ABSTRACT Impairments in motor control are linked to low back pain and reductions in physical function in the elderly. Unfortunately, many techniques to assess the neural control of movement are not feasible, or directly applicable, to the trunk musculature. Accordingly, we will develop innovative approaches to study these muscles. Specifically, we will work to develop a reliable, fMRI protocol that investigates the activity of the motor neural networks of selected trunk muscles (specific aim 1). We will also develop a reliable muscle functional MRI (mfMRI) protocol to assess the spatial muscle activation patterns of the deeper lumbopelvic muscles (specific aim 2).We will examine the test-retest reliability of these approaches in four distinct target populations: healthy adults, adults with chronic low back pain, older adults, and older adults with high levels of trunk muscle control (i.e., individuals with expertise in Pilates). By enrolling groups of various levels of trunk muscle control, pathology state and age, we will be able to not only determine the intra-individual reliability, but also the inter-individual reliability as we expect the variability of the measures to be influenced by physical ability, pain state and age. Lastly, in an exploratory aim we will examine the association of our novel neurophysiological measures from Aim 1 and 2 with classic biomechanical and muscle function measures (e.g., trunk extensor strength, trunk extensor force-matching steadiness, and static balance). Successfully developing reliable techniques of this nature will result in new and improved research tools for conducting rigorous studies of therapeutic approaches, such as spinal manipulation and yoga, within the context of trunk muscle control and function.