Friday, January 9, 2009

All that "core" muscle strengthening... a waste of time?


This is the second study from a reputaible journal that I've seen that casts doubt on the notion that weak trunk muscle strength is related to lower back pain. Maybe all that core strenghtening is unnecessary. Here's the study.
 
Paalanne N, Korpelainen R, Taimela S, Remes J, Mutanen P, Karppinen J. "Isometric trunk muscle strength and body sway in relation to low back pain in young adults." Spine. 2008 Jun 1;33(13):E435-41.
Department of Sports Medicine, Deaconess Institute of Oulu, Oulu, Finland.
nikopaal@mail.student.oulu.fi

STUDY DESIGN: A cross-sectional study on young adults.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the relationships between low back pain (LBP), maximal isometric trunk muscle strength, and body sway among young adults.

SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: The
results of previous studies evaluating the association between trunk muscle strength and LBP are conflicting and heterogeneous. Furthermore, there are only few studies on the association between body sway and LBP.

METHODS: The subjects
(n = 874) belonged to a subcohort of the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 (mean age 19 years). Trunk muscle strength and body sway were measured from all subjects. LBP symptoms were inquired with a questionnaire, which was completed
concurrently with the examinations. Latent Class Analysis (LCA) was used to cluster the subjects according to their LBP symptoms. RESULTS: LCA analysis produced 6 clusters differing with respect to LBP symptoms. There were no
statistically significant differences between the clusters in trunk muscle strength or body sway.

CONCLUSION: LBP does not seem to be associated with maximal isometric trunk muscle strength or body sway in young adults.

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