Evaluation of Spine Health and Spine Mechanics in Servicemembers with Traumatic Lower Extremity Amputation or Injury.

摘要

Low back pain (LBP) is a clinically important secondary impairment following lower-extremity trauma, with an estimated prevalence as high as 52-80%. During gait, alterations in trunk motion following lower limb amputation likely impose distinct demands on trunk muscles to maintain equilibrium and stability of the spine. The overall objective of this research is to identify the relationship(s) between trunk motion with traumatic lower-extremity amputation/injury and LBP via changes in spine mechanics and spine health, two important factors associated with LBP risk. Using a novel set of clinical, experimental, and computational methods, we expect to demonstrate a positive association between abnormal spine mechanics (i.e., increased spinal loads), that overtime, negatively affect spine health and increase LBP risk among SMs with lower-extremity trauma. Preliminary results, to date, support our working hypothesis that altered trunk motions with extremity trauma contribute to increase spinal loads by 17-95% relative to able-bodied individuals. Experimental methods are operational and enrollment is currently open (9 participants recruited) to obtain additional prospective data. We expect to show a positive association between elevated spine loads and poor spine health, which will support the need for trunk-specific rehabilitation procedures to reduce long-term incidence and recurrence of low back pain.