The effects of pelvic diagonal movements and resistance on the lumbar multifidus.
Ji-Yeon Lee, Dong-Yeop Lee, Ji-Heon Hong and 2 others
PMID 28356650WHAT IT FOUND
Side-lying pelvic diagonal movements changed lumbar multifidus thickness, with anterior elevation greater than posterior depression.
Adding resistance did not produce a further difference in thickness compared with no resistance.
Key findings
01Pelvic diagonal movements changed lumbar multifidus thickness, and anterior elevation produced greater thickness than posterior depression.
02Adding resistance did not produce a significant difference compared with the same movements without resistance.
03Average lumbar multifidus thickness was 25.0 mm at rest, 30.2 mm during anterior elevation, 27.7 mm during posterior depression, 31.6 mm during anterior elevation with resistance, and 27.4 mm during posterior depression with resistance.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
The participants were healthy and pain-free, so the findings may not apply to patients with neuromuscular problems or other health conditions. The outcome measured was lumbar multifidus thickness only. The sample was small, with 21 participants. The researchers could not examine deeper muscle layers and did not measure phasic muscles or the relationship between tonic and phasic muscles. The study tested only pelvic diagonal movements and did not compare them with other lumbar stabilization maneuvers. There was no control group or randomised allocation; all participants performed the same movements.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as evidence that adding resistance improves lumbar multifidus training or patient outcomes. The study found no significant difference between movements with and without resistance, and it was done in healthy pain-free adults.