Relationship between the morphology and composition of the lumbar paraspinal and psoas muscles and lumbar intervertebral motion in chronic low‐back pain: An exploratory study

Abstract Muscles of the lumbar spine play an important role in controlling segmental intervertebral motion. This study aimed to evaluate the association between lumbar intervertebral motion and changes in lumbar morphology/composition in people with chronic low‐back pain (CLBP). A sample of 183 patients with CLBP participated in this cross‐sectional study. Participants underwent lumbar flexion‐extension X‐rays to determine vertebral motion (translational and/or rotational motion) of lumbar levels (L1–L2 to L5–S1) and lumbar spine magnetic resonance imaging to quantify total and functional cross‐sectional areas (CSAs) and asymmetry of the multifidus (MF), lumbar erector spinae (LES), and psoas muscles. The relationship between morphology/composition of the muscles and lumbar intervertebral motion was investigated. Smaller total and functional CSAs of the MF and greater CSAs of the LES muscle were observed in participants with greater intervertebral motion. Muscle asymmetry was observed at different lumbar vertebral levels. The greatest amount of translational intervertebral motion was observed at the L3–L4 level, while the greatest amount of rotational translation occurred at the L4–L5. Associations were observed between the morphology of the paraspinal muscles at the vertebral levels adjacent to the L3–L4 level and the increased intervertebral motion at this level. Relationships between measures of muscle morphology/composition and increased segmental vertebral motion were observed. The results may provide a plausible biological reason for the effectiveness of rehabilitating deficient paraspinal muscles in a subset of people with CLBP.