Vibration, Proprioception, and Low Back Stability

描述(由申请人提供)：职业振动暴露是腰背部疾病的已知危险因素。虽然过去的研究已经调查了振动的传递等问题，但振动可能导致下腰痛的方式仍然不太清楚。振动可能导致下背部损伤的一个可能机制是本体感觉系统的破坏，导致脊柱稳定性降低和对损伤的易感性增加。过去的研究表明，振动会改变四肢关节的几种本体感觉指标。这些变化随着振动的频率而变化，并在振动退出后持续。然而，这些本体感觉的变化还没有在腰部得到彻底的研究。本研究的目的是开始研究振动对腰背部本体感觉和脊柱稳定性的影响。假设再定位误差(本体感觉的一种测量指标)会随着振动的增加而增加。此外，预计这种增加将随着振动暴露的不同频率而有所不同。这些变化的时间特性将被研究。假设在消除振动后，增加的误差将持续一段时间，最终回到基线。最后，使用脊柱动力学模型将本体感觉的这些变化与突然负荷动力学的变化进行比较，以评估本体感觉对脊柱稳定性的影响。这项研究对于更好地了解哪些类型的振动会使工人处于危险之中，这些振动如何增加风险，以及可以采取什么措施来降低风险非常重要。例如，如果发现本体感觉变化在暴露后持续10分钟，建议卡车司机和重型设备操作员在参加重物搬运活动之前休息10分钟可能是谨慎的。这项工作将为未来的研究提供基础工作，研究职业性振动暴露如何改变本体感觉，以及它如何影响整体脊柱稳定性。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Occupational vibration exposure is a known risk factor for low back disorders. While past research has investigated issues such as transmission of vibration, the means by which vibration might result in low back pain is still not well understood. A possible mechanism by which vibration might result in low back injury is by a disruption of the proprioceptive system leading to decreased spinal stability and increased susceptibility to injury. Vibration has been shown in the past to alter several measures of proprioception in the joints of the extremities. These alterations change with the frequency of the vibration and last after the vibration has been withdrawn. However, these changes in proprioception have yet to be thoroughly investigated in the low back. The aims of this research are to begin to investigate the effects of vibration on proprioception in the low back and spinal stability. It is hypothesized that reposition sense error (one measure of proprioception) will increase with exposure to vibration. Further, it is expected that this increase will be different with different frequencies of vibration exposure. The temporal properties of these changes will be investigated. It is hypothesized that after removal of the vibration, the increased error will persist for some time before eventually returning to baseline. Finally, these changes in proprioception will be compared to changes in sudden load dynamics using a model of spinal dynamics in order to assess the effect of proprioception on spinal stability. This research is important to better understand what types of vibrations put a worker at risk, how these vibrations increase risk, and what may be done to reduce risk. For example, if it is found that proprioceptive changes last for 10 minutes after exposure, it may be prudent to recommend truck drivers and heavy equipment operators rest for 10 minutes before participating in heavy lifting activities. This work will provide the ground work for future research examining how proprioception is altered by occupational vibration exposure and how it affects the overall spinal stabilization.