1997 Manual Therapy Awards and Abstracts

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine if the mobility of soft tissues in the paraspinal region is measurable in vivo, and to test the feasibility of obtaining useful data with a newly developed method. A small handheld device was developed to apply and measure oblique forces to the paraspinal tissues, resulting in gliding, which was measured using videoanalysis. Forces were transmitted to the tissues through disks adhered to the skin. The tissue mobility at the levels T8-9 and Ll-2 was measured in four directions (cranial-caudal, and medial-lateral). Soft tissue mobility was measured in 16 subjects and the obtained force-displacement curves were representative for visco-elastic tissues. The range of motion (ROM) at 4 kg load in the 4 directions showed a consistent pattern, with soft tissues gliding most medially (5.64 ± 0.58 cm), followed by cranially (4.30 ± 0.48 cm), laterally (3.50 ± 0.46 cm) and caudally (2.68 ± 0.49 cm), at the thoracic level. The pattern at the lumbar level was similar and consistent for medial (3.95 ± 0.42cm) and cranial (3.30 ± 0.46 cm) displacement, but variable for lateral (2.17 ± 0.42 cm) and caudal (2.22 ± 0.43 cm) displacement. The soft tissue ROM at the thoracic site was greater than at the lumbar site. Our aim is to establish a normal soft tissue ROM Pattern for a larger sample of normal individuals and to compare soft tissue mobility in persons who are experiencing low back pain with the normal pattern.