Disbalance and fatigue of the spinal extensors as one of the causes of the overload disease of the lumbar spine

The aim of the study was to find out whether among young active people – the future healthcare professionals – there is a risk of developing lumbar spine overload disease depending on the occurrence of the disbalance of paravertebral muscles and to assess the fatigue of the examined muscles depending on the body position during the work. Methods: The study involved 50 randomly selected students of physiotherapy and emergency medical services of a mean age of 21 years. The surface electromyography (sEMG) was used to measure the activity level of spinal extensors of the cervical and lumbar spine. The statistical analysis of the results was made using the RStudio software. Results: Study shows that the majority of the examined students had a slight asymmetry between the bioelectric activity of the right- and left-side dorsal extensor bands, both in the cervical and lumbar sections (right side 118.6 Hz / left side 115.7 Hz / extension and 98.6 Hz / 95.5 Hz /flexion). Depending on the position, significant fatigue in the examined muscles was found ( p < 0.05). Conclusions: The experiment showed a slight disbalance in the average bioelectromyographic activity in the area of spinal extensors during their symmetrical work. This can be the basis for the development of the overload disease in the weaker muscle parts, which generate more fatigue during the activity. It is worth to carry out similar tests in a much greater group, taking the longer-lasting muscular effort into account.