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Towards understanding low back pain

Low back pain is a major health issue affecting many people with often unknown pain source. The "Integrative Spinal Research (ISR)" group at the Balgrist University Hospital investigates the effects of lumbo-sacral back pain on motor control strategies during various activities of daily living.

PI: Dr. Michael Meier

Subjects with musculoskeletal pain often move differently than their pain-free counterparts. The characteristics of pain-related changes in movement patterns are poorly understood, particularly regarding chronic low back pain. Adaptations of movements in response to pain are probably driven by modulations on the level of the sensory or motor nervous system. The ISR research group investigates individual strategies of motor control and their influence on causing or maintaining low back pain. The research project is headed by PD Dr. Michael Meier and is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF). Detailed assessments of movement patterns are performed in collaboration with the Swiss Center for clinical Movement Analysis (SCMA) at the Balgrist Campus, which provides access to cutting-edge technologies enabling precise quantification of movement patterns. Different movements of everyday life are comprehensively analyzed by 3D kinematics and force plates, thus allowing to gain insights into the influence of pain on motor performance (and vice versa).

Additionally, the ISR group is interested in the role of specific brain areas – particularly of those involved in integration of sensory back afferent inputs – on individual movement strategies. This will shed some light onto potential relationships between individual motor control strategies and supraspinal sensorimotor processes in idiopathic low back pain and thereby may pave the way for future treatments tackling low back pain. This research project serves as good example how complex and relevant research questions can be addressed and advanced by a combinatory approach of functional and structural assessments.

"Cutting-edge technology combined with the supportive and competent SCMA team significantly contributed to the success of this research project – we are looking forward to further collaborations with the SCMA platform!"

PD Dr. Michael Meier