Physiology and pathophysiology of trunk control mechanisms

这一系列实验的总体目标是了解脊柱是如何控制的，以及这种控制在疾病中是如何变化的。在患有腰痛的人中已经发现了控制能力的改变，但我们对脊柱保护和支撑的正常机制仍然知之甚少。背痛是一种常见的病痛，每年影响约5%的澳大利亚人，是西方社会最常见和最昂贵的工伤。了解正常控制和功能障碍的机制对于识别风险因素和制定康复和预防策略至关重要。实验分为两个系列。第一个系列解决了正常的脊柱控制。要问的问题涉及大脑如何应对同时使用躯干肌肉进行呼吸和脊柱控制的挑战，躯干肌肉的活动如何受到来自关节，韧带和脊柱肌肉的感觉受体的输入的影响，以及腹内压是否可以支持躯干。第二个系列涉及临床人群。第一个目的是确定呼吸系统疾病患者是否同时使用躯干肌肉进行脊柱控制和呼吸。如果他们不能，我们预测他们将更容易出现腰痛。我们将在一项关于有和没有呼吸系统疾病的人的腰痛发病率的大型研究中对此进行测试。第二项研究将调查骨盆底肌肉，这是非常重要的，并协助脊柱控制。我们将调查尿失禁的人是否有脊柱控制不良，以及这是否会导致背痛。最后的实验将确定腰痛患者是否以不同的方式解读来自脊柱的感觉信息。通过回答这些问题，我们希望干预LBP的巨大个人，社会和经济后果，影响60-90%的人口在他们生命的某个阶段。

The overall aim of this series of experiments is to understand how the spine is controlled and how this changes in disease. Altered control has been identified in people with low back pain, yet we still know very little about the normal mechanisms for protection and support of the spine. Back pain is a common affliction that affects about 5% of Australians each year and is the most common and expensive work-related injury in western society. An understanding of normal control and the mechanism of dysfunction is critical for identification of risk factors and development of strategies for rehabilitation and prevention. The experiments are divided into two series. The first series addresses normal spinal control. The questions to be asked deal with how the brain copes with the challenge of using trunk muscles for breathing and spinal control at the same time, how the activity of the trunk muscles is affected by input from sensory receptors in the joints, ligaments and muscles of the spine, and whether intra-abdominal pressure can support the trunk. The second series deals with clinical populations. The first aim is to identify whether people with respiratory diseases use trunk muscles for spinal control and breathing at the same time. If they cannot, we predict that they will be more prone to low back pain. We will test this in a large study of incidence of low back pain in people with and without respiratory disease. The second study will investigate the pelvic floor muscles which are important for continence and assist with spinal control. We will investigate whether people with incontinence have poor spinal control and whether this leads to back pain. The final experiment will identify whether people with low back pain interpret sensory information from the spine differently. By answering these questions we hope to intervene in the enormous personal, social and economic consequences of LBP which affects between 60-90% of the population at some stage in their life.