Neuromuscular assessment of fatigue of low back muscles in elderly nurses

Cescon, Corrado and Pozzo, Marco and Venturi, Silvia and Merletti, Roberto and Bonfiglioli, Roberta and Violante, Francesco (2004) Neuromuscular assessment of fatigue of low back muscles in elderly nurses. In: Proc. of the International Symposium on Neuromuscular Assessment in the Elderly Worker, 20-21 Feb 2004, Torino, Italy.

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Abstract

The aim of the study was to compare myoelectric variables extracted from surface EMG signals of the low back muscles in a group of 10 elderly female nurses and a control group of 10 female healty subjects. The selection criteria for the patients suffering from low back pain were: women aged from 45 to 62 (three years before retirement) working at least 20 h/week, who have worked at least 5 years with similar work tasks and who reported trouble (ache, pain, discomfort) in the region of interest (low-back or neck and shoulder) for more than 30 days during the last year and not having trouble (more than 30 days) from more than two other body regions/parts. The control group was matched by age. EMG signals were detected bilaterally from the Longissimus Dorsi (LD) and Multifidus (MF) muscles during a Sörensen test. The test was repeated on three non-consecutive days. For each muscle, a 4 electrode, 10 mm interelectrode distance adhesive array was positioned aligned with the muscle fiber direction. The averaged rectified value (ARV) and mean frequency (MNF) were used as myoelectric variables for the analysis of the 30 mm single differential signals. The statistical analysis showed significant differences in the initial values of ARV and MNF between the two subject groups. The cases showed a lower signal amplitude and higher frequency with respect to the control group in both muscle groups. No statistically significant difference was observed in the comparison of signals acquired in the three subsequent trials.

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