Imperial college oarsmen help find the cause of back pain
Thirty elite oarsmen from the Imperial College Boat Club are to take part in a major research study to investigate the role of spinal muscles in low back pain.
The research project, led by Dr Alison McGregor, lecturer in the Department of Orthopaedic and Trauma Surgery at Imperial College's Charing Cross Hospital campus, has been funded by a three-year grant of £153,000 by the Arthritis Research Campaign.
She plans to study the changes to the muscles around the spine that occur as a result of chronic pain, training and physiotherapy.
Dr McGregor is recruiting five groups of patients, including elite rowers with and without back pain, patients with nerve root compression requiring surgery, patients with back pain, and a control group made up of healthy volunteers from students at Imperial and Hammersmith Hospital.
Dr Nick Davey, a lecturer in Neuroscience at Imperial, will perform electrophysical tests to investigate the voluntary control a person has over their muscles via the brain. They will also have their muscles scanned using ultrasound. This will happen at the start of the trial and after a six-month period. The rowers will be assessed at the beginning of the rowing season and at the end, to appraise the effects of intense training on the spine.
"Rowing represents a sport that requires not only strength and endurance of the spinal muscles but also high levels of co-ordination to execute an effective rowing stroke. We think that as a result of this training, the brain has developed an enhanced ability to control and co-ordinate the muscles," explained Dr McGregor.
"Back pain is very common, and many people suffer from it throughout their lives, and it's not fully understood why this happens. It is thought that many of the spine's supporting mechanisms become disturbed as a result of back pain, particularly the spinal muscles, and that they don't automatically recover when the pain subsides. This may result in the spine not working properly, making it very vulnerable to further injury.
"What we want to do is to assess the way the muscles in the spine, work and are controlled by the brain, and how this changes with training and injury."
Knowledge gained from the study could ultimately lead to the development of more effective forms of treatment for managing low back pain.
