Biomechanical analysis of INFINITY rehabilitation method for treatment of low back pain.
Matej Daniel, Michaela Tomanová, Jana Hornová and 2 others
PMID 28603355WHAT IT FOUND
A computer model of the lower back found figure-of-eight INFINITY motion doubled spinal load frequency, stayed within 10% of neutral load, and loaded back muscles symmetrically.
It does not show pain or function improvement.
Key findings
01The model estimated that L5/S1 spinal load stayed within 10% of neutral position across the studied range of motion.
02The figure-of-eight motion produced two maxima and two minima of spinal force in one cycle, so the spinal load cycle frequency was twice the motion frequency.
03All modeled motions except the oblique AL-PR pendulum loaded the left and right iliocostalis muscle segments symmetrically.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
No patients were examined, and no pain, function, or clinical outcome was measured. The model used one reference body and assumed slow, small displacements, so it may not apply to larger or faster movements. The model treats muscles as ideal force generators and does not fully capture tendon dynamics, nonlinear passive structures, acceleration, or stability goals. The motion patterns were selected from the authors' clinical experience, and the model was not tested against new patient measurements in this paper. Muscle force was reported for iliocostalis, not for the deep stabilizing muscles named in the aim.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as proof that INFINITY reduces pain or improves function. It is a computer model of one reference body, not a study of treated patients, and it reports no clinical outcomes.