Posture‐related stiffness mapping of paraspinal muscles

International audienceThe paraspinal compartment acts as a bone–muscle composite beam of the spine. The elastic properties of theparaspinal muscles play a critical role in spine stabilization. These properties depend on the subjects’ posture, andthey may be drastically altered by low back pain. Supersonic shear wave elastography can be used to providequantitative stiffness maps (elastograms), which characterize the elastic properties of the probed tissue. The aimof this study was to challenge shear wave elastography sensitivity to postural stiffness changes in healthyparaspinal muscles. The stiffness of the main paraspinal muscles (longissimus, iliocostalis, multifidus) wasmeasured by shear wave elastography at the lumbosacral level (L3 and S1) for six static postures performed byvolunteers. Passive postures (rest, passive flexion, passive extension) were performed in a first shear waveelastography session, and active postures (upright, bending forward, bending backward) with rest posture forreference were performed in a second session. Measurements were repeated three times for each posture. Sixteenhealthy young adults were enrolled in the study. Non-parametric paired tests, multiple analyses of covariance, andintra-class correlations were implemented for analysis. Shear wave elastography showed good to excellentreliability, except in the multifidus at S1, during bending forward, and in the multifidus at L3, during bendingbackward. Yet, during bending forward, only poor quality was recorded for nine volunteers in the longissimus.Significant intra- and inter-muscular changes were observed with posture. Stiffness significantly increased for theupright position and bending forward with respect to the reference values recorded in passive postures. Inconclusion, shear wave elastography allows reliable assessment of the stiffness of the paraspinal muscles except inthe multifidus at S1 and longissimus, during bending forward, and in the multifidus at L3, during bendingbackward. It reveals a different biomechanical behaviour for the multifidus, the longissimus, and the iliocostalis